MARGAO: In a memorandum submitted to the Tourism Department, Goyche Fudle Pidge Khatir (GFPK), detailed its objections to the government’s draft Jetty Policy 2022.
They highlighted how dredging of the rivers by the Jetty Management Committee (JMC) is detrimental to rivers from the fisheries, ecological and livelihoods point of view.
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“This entire policy is aimed at restructuring Goa’s rivers and riparian coast to suit the interests of corporations. Indirectly this policy is privatisation and industrialisation of all of Goa’s rivers. Proposed auctioning of berthing licence of tourism passenger vessels amounts to auctioning of Goa’s rivers though the ripple effect,” said GFPK President Jack Mascarenhas.
GFPK criticised the move of restricting the role of local political institutions like panchayats and municipalities to garbage collectors of jetties. It further expressed concern about the setting up of an unspecified number of new jetties without assessing its impact on fisheries and questioned the entrusting of the JMC with the responsibility of conducting carrying capacity studies related to rivers.
GFPK demanded that JMC include the Fisheries Director as a member and that it should be headed by the Captain of Ports (CoP) and not by the Tourism Principal Secretary.
“The nature of jetty ownership – whether individuals or partnership firms or co-operative entities will be allowed to own the jetties- is not clear. The legal relationship between the JMC and jetty owner is not specified in the Draft Jetty Policy 2022 either,” Mascarenhas added.
