TEAM HERALD
PANJIM: Admitting that 50 per cent of industries and hotels were probably operating without Water and Air Consents, the state government desires that the Centre should help it to get more time to comply with the National Green Tribunal directions of closing all such units including hotels.
The state wants more time to be given to hotels to set up sewerage and garbage treatment plants after NGT directed the Pollution Control Boards across the country, including Goa, to close down all units including hotels operating without the consent under the Air and Water Acts.
Addressing a press conference at Secretariat Friday, a day after attending the all state tourism ministers meeting with Union Tourism Minister Chiranjeevi in New Delhi, Tourism minister Dilip Parulekar feared this directive could close down 50 percent of the industries and hotels in Goa.
“It will close down 50 percent hotels in Goa. The directives given by the Central NGT are strict and can spell doom for all the hotels and restaurants which are under the scanner of Goa State Pollution Control Board (GSPCB),” he said.
The Ministry of Environment and Forests wrote to GSPCB to take action in the matter considering NGT directives and file an action taken report (ATR) within the stipulated time period.
“The hotels and restaurants are on the verge of closing down in the wake of this order. In a short time it is not possible to set up sewerage treatment plants … they require more time,” he said.
He alleged that some units’ consent has been withheld by the GSPCB for minor, possibly not valid reasons like routine garbage disposal, failure to install a composting unit, use of small generators on account of lack of regular power supply among others.
Meanwhile, the Tourism Minister Dilip Parulekar said that he would finalize an agency for preparing a draft tourism master plan by mid-August. And that the draft master plan will be ready by December this year.
“Around 18 agencies have applied to the department. The Government-appointed expert committee will select one of the agencies by August 15, and a draft master plan will be prepared by the selected agency by the end of this year,” Parulekar said. at a press conference.
When asked whether the village panchayats and stakeholders will be taken into confidence while preparing the draft, he replied in the positive adding that the agency will also travel through all 40 constituencies to understand the ground reality.
“They will go to all constituencies to take the requirement (with the help of the respective MLAs) and the priority areas. Hinterland will be our focus…,” Parulekar assured.
