Team Herald
PANJIM: In what could give major livelihood boost to the fishing community along the coastal belt, the State government has proposed amendment to the Coastal Regulation Zone (CRZ) notification 2019 to allow the traditional communities to carry out tourism-related activities in their dwelling units, which is otherwise prohibited.
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As the State government has commenced the process of preparing the Coastal Zone Management Plan (CZMP) 2019, it has proposed several amendments to the CRZ 2019 notification. The government is now waiting for the Union Ministry for Environment, Forest and Climate Change (MoEF&CC) to respond positively before preparing the draft CZMP 2019.
As per the existing CRZ notification, local communities including fishermen can be permitted to facilitate tourism through ‘home stay’ without changing the area or design or facade of the existing houses.
However, in a letter to Union Minister Bhupender Yadav, Goa’s Environment Minister Nilesh Cabral has proposed the amendment which stated, “Home stays may be substituted with activities so that the local community can carry out any tourism activity within their dwelling units and should not be restricted to only home stays.”
He has also proposed an amendment to allow commercial activities in fishing wards. “So long it is within the ambit of traditional rights and customary uses, such as existing fishing villages, should be omitted as other commercial activities are also permissible in these areas,” he said.
The government has further proposed to omit ‘fish breeding areas’ from the CRZ notification after the State Fisheries Department well as the Indian Council for Agriculture Research communicated about non-existence of such details or studies with them.
“In absence of scientific studies and information, it would not be possible to demarcate such areas on the CZMP,” the State government said.
The State urged the Union government to come out with a clear definition of sand dune and detailed methodology for its demarcation to avoid legal complications.
The State also asked to allow manual extraction of sand in coastal areas where sand is not available in other sources which is prohibited in CRZ.
The State government has shortlisted Kerala-based National Centre for Earth Science Studies (NCESS) for the preparation of CZMP 2019. The agency had recently made its presentation before the Environment Department.
Sources said, “The draft plan has to be prepared based on the amendments that we have prepared failing which there could again be some errors and the entire process may be delayed.”
