PANAJI
Minister for Environment and Climate Change Nilesh Cabral has stated that the department is trying its best to finalize the draft Coastal Zone Management Plan (CZMP) for submission to the central authority for further process before the deadline of December 31 draws to a close.“We are trying to see to it that we close the issue and send the draft plan before December 31 to the centre. However, despite our best efforts, somehow things are not moving along the path we had hoped for,” Cabral told The Goan.
The National Green Tribunal, in its order dated October 21, had pulled up the Goa government for “breach of mandate” in finalization of the draft CZMP for a decade. The order laid down that the state environment secretary will go without salary from January 1, 2022 till the default continues if the state government missed the deadline set on December 31 this year.
Referring to the 7,000-odd objections and suggestions received by the department, Cabral said, "It is proving to be a mammoth task to monitor these objections and suggestions. Technical observations have been scrutinized. These will then be sent to the National Centre for Sustainable Coastal Management (NCSCM) under the Union Ministry of Environment, Forest and Climate Change. Ground-truthing has been completed and findings have been incorporated into the report.”
The Minister informed that all concerned government departments have submitted their reports. “There was a slight delay with Fisheries Department. The issue was that technically fish breeding areas cannot be marked out strictly as fish are a mobile commodity. The department has given us a report that fish breeding areas cannot be defined technically as such. They have identified oyster shell and seashell areas and given to us. This will reflect in the draft,” he said adding that Goa is the only state which formulates a plan on 1:4000 scale whereas every other state’s plan rests on an axis of 1:25000.
