Team Herald
Vasco: The village panchayat of Quelossim is the second village in Goa to prepare their own Coastal Zone Management Plan and submit to the Goa Coastal Zone Management Authority (GCZMA). A team led by the Sarpanch Maria D’souza and accompanied by the Biodiversity Chairman, Lopinho Xavier and other villagers submitted the plan to the office of the Environment Minister as well as to the member secretary Johnson Fernandes. The villagers went about preparing their own plan. In this, they sought the assistance of Goencho Avaaz, a social organisation in guiding the villagers in their pursuit in preparing their plan.
A team was formed consisting of members such as fishermen, pluckers, farmers, the panchayat’s biodiversity team and some members of the panchayat. The team spread out collecting important information and listing the same for incorporation in the report. The team was well briefed that every aspect related to climate change and its impact had to be mapped, including the 26 sluice gates, large tracts of khazans, agricultural fields, mangroves, mud flats, water reservoirs, fish breeding areas, heritage sites, etc.
Once the task was in their grasp, the Quelossim panchayat called for a special gram sabha on August 25. The draft map prepared by the team was placed before the gram sabha and suggestions, objections and improvements were requested. Once the map and the report were examined, the gram sabha unanimously adopted the plan and directed the panchayat body to take necessary action to submit the same to the government.
Speaking to reporters, the Biodiversity Chairman Lopinho Xavier thanked the people of Quelossim for prepare a plan that will help save the village from any natural disaster like flooding and other calamities related to sea level rise. The sarpanch on behalf of the panchayat body and the villagers of Quelossim thanked Captain Viriato Fernandes for assisting the villagers in the exercise.
