PANAJI
The Goa government is all set to face the wrath of the National Green Tribunal (NGT) as the State is set to miss its January 31 deadline to complete the much-delayed Coastal Zone Management Plan (CZMP) based on the CRZ notification 2019. Also, the State’s updated CZMP 2011 is yet to be cleared by the National Coastal Zone Management Authority (NCZMA).
Highly placed sources confirmed that the Thiruvananthapuram-based National Centre for Earth Science Studies (NCESS) is yet to submit the draft plan to the State. Sources informed that the Union Ministry of Environment, Forest and Climate Change (MoEF&CC), in a submission before the NGT in the Borim bridge matter, had pointed out before the green bench Goa’s persistent failure to finalise its CZMP 2019.
“Goa remains governed by the CRZ Notification of 2011, as it failed to update its CZMP. According to the Ministry, the State’s reliance on outdated regulations has forced them not to grant any more developmental permissions based on the CRZ 2011 notification. The State is now vulnerable to unregulated development. The submission was seriously viewed by the NGT,” sources said.
There has been a delay of almost five years since the CRZ notification 2019 was issued ” the Rules and Regulations of which are currently not applicable to Goa in the absence of the plan.
Earlier this month, Chief Minister Pramod Sawant met Union Minister Bhupender Yadav, requesting the early finalisation of CZMP 2019.
According to the sources, the delay in the CZMP completion is one of the reasons why the then director of the environment, Johnson Fernandes, was shunted out.
Despite repeated calls, incumbent director Sachin Dessai remained unavailable for comment.
The coastal State is already on the NGT’s radar for missing several deadlines. The State has already missed the October 31, 2023 deadline set by the NCZMA.
The State later sought time until May 31, 2024, to complete the plan; however, it failed to meet that too.
Meanwhile, sources said that the updated CZMP 2011 on a 1:4,000 scale is currently under the scrutiny of the NCZMA, and notifying the new plan is crucial for its incorporation into the CZMP 2019.
In September, the State forwarded the updated CZMP 2011 based on the 1:4,000 scale to the NCZMA and MoEF&CC for approval and notification. The CZMP 2011, based on the 1:25,000 scale, was notified on September 6, 2022.
