MARGAO
Uproar, chaos, disruptions and walkout marred the Public hearing on the Coastal Zone Management Plan (CZMP) at the SGDPA parking lot on Thursday as hundreds of people turned up at the venue for the hearing.
While almost all the speakers and participants walked out of the venue at around 6.15 pm in protest against the way the hearing was being conducted, leaving the venue with empty chairs, the authorities went ahead with the hearing, calling upon the registered speakers to speak till late Thursday.
The activists, however, warned that they would knock the doors of the Supreme Court in the event the authorities try to complete the exercise in the absence of the speakers and participants through the night.
If the exercise had come to a halt at for around an hour on the row over lunch break, the situation went out of hand post-lunch session. Speakers and the participants staged a walk out after the authorities and the police got former Loutolim Sarpanch Xavier Fernandes out of the pandal after he insisted to know whether the exercise is a public hearing or a public consultation. He further demanded to know the officer, who is Presiding over the hearing, saying he would not speak on the plan till his queries were answered by authorities.
After repeated requests to speak and with his allotted time over, Salcete Mamlatdar Prataprao Gaonkar and the police took Xavier out of the pandal, triggering protests inside, with many a participating squatting on the ground as a mark of protest, while Xavier soon returned to the pandal and insisted on his demand to clarify whether the exercise was a public hearing or a public consultation, and with no reply forthcoming from the authorities, the speakers and the participants staged a walkout.
They shouted slogans against the government and the way the entire exercise was sought to be bulldozed by the authorities.
Activist Abhijit Prabhudesai, Zarina Da Cunha and others told the media after staging a walkout that they will all make their presence felt at the venue at 10 am. Abhijit said that District Collector Ruchika Katyal had earlier assured the speakers and participants that those who do not speak when their turn comes will be allowed to speak the next day.
At around 8 pm, however, some of the speakers, including Goenchea Ramonkanancho Ekvott secretary Olencio Simoes and others were seen returning to the venue to make their submission on the plan.
After walking out of the pandal, Abhijit and Zarina pointed out that the authorities cannot expect the speakers and participants to wait till midnight and the next day without food at the venue. “We have all decided to come here at 10 am on Friday. We do not think the government will rush with the hearing and complete the exercise past midnight, but wait for the people again at 10 am on Friday”, Abhijit said.
Pointing out that the National Green Tribunal (NGT) order speaks about continuing the hearing for many days, Abhijit said the authorities could have very well conducted the hearing from morning till evening and resumed the hearing the next day if they had any concern for the people, more so in times of Covid pandemic.
As some of the speakers and participants started returning to the venue at around 8 pm, some of the speakers sought to know from the district Collector whether the hearing would resume on Friday morning, with the Collector only replying that the hearing will continue through the night.
