MAPUSA
When several panchyats across the State have opposed the draft Coastal Zone Management Plan (CZMP) and demanded that it to be scrapped, the Tivim panchayat in Bardez has said that, holding discussion on the Coastal Zone Management Plan is “trivial” and rejected a proposal of concerned villagers to raise it at the gram sabha to be held on Sunday.
Some prominent citizens of the village had on February 23 written to the local panchayat expressing their intention to raise three important issues concerning the village including the coastal plan.
Refusing to allow any discussion on the Coastal Zone Management Plan, Tivim Sarpanch Sharmila Gadekar said the proposals placed by the citizens were contradictory to Section 6 of the GPR Act 1994 and therefore has been rejected by the panchayat body.
“The village panchayat in a special meeting have unanimously found that the proposals placed by you are of trivial nature and therefore cannot be discussed at the gram sabha meeting,” Gadekar said.
Besides demanding a discussion on the Coastal Zone Management Plan, the concerned villagers had also called for a debate on the market complex for the village and the status on the controversial shed for dry waste collection which has been built on church property.
“At least 20 sluice gates in the village were not identified in the earlier coastal plan. We wanted to know if it was included in the new plan and what was the stand of the local panchayat vis-Ã -vis the CZMP,” said Robert Colaco, one of the citizens who had moved the proposal.
“It’s our right to protect the environment and the village. The villagers need to be aware of what is going on in their village,” he added.
He further disclosed that the panchayat went ahead and built a shed for dry waste collection in the church property without taking permission of the church.
Several panchayats across the State have pointed out the loopholes in the draft CZMP and resolved to request the Goa Coastal Zone Management Authority (GCZMA) to scrap the new draft CZMP and adopt the coastal plan prepared by the village panchayats.
Incidentally, the Tivim panchayat holds allegiance to Kiran Kandolkar the working president of Goa Forward Party.
