PANJIM: In the wake of objections to the draft Coastal Zone Management Plan (CZMP), Environment Minister Nilesh Cabral on Friday rejected the plan  prepared by the National Centre for Sustainable Coastal Management (NCSCM) and has sent it back to be redrafted. The public hearing scheduled on July 7 to discuss the plan has also been postponed indefinitely.

Speaking to the media after the draft CZMP was presented to the MLAs in the Assembly complex, Cabral said, “In the interest of Goa and Goans, we have decided that as Environment Minister of the State of Goa I will write to Goa Coastal Zone Management Authority (GCZMA) that the plan which is uploaded is not satisfactory and please submit it back to the NCSCM and re-study and bring it back to us. So the public hearing fixed on July 7 will be postponed.”

Stating that the State is suffering due to government decisions in 1996 and 2011, he said “Parliament passed the environment protection law was passed in 1991 and subsequently the Goa government approved a plan in 1996 which had a scale of 1:10,000. That plan did not have anything, neither survey numbers nor anything else. However, this has become the base map for the State for all purposes. The map was to be redrawn in 2011 which was not done.”

He further said that the way NCSCM has interpreted the law is different from the government. “I have come to understand that despite informing them on numerous occasions they have not paid heed to it. Their interpretation is that wherever there is saline water there are mangroves and therefore they should be considered as High Tide Line (HTL). But they have to understand that we Goans have for generations had sluice gates through which two activities have been carried out, one was farming and second has been fishing. But they seem not to understand it,” he added.

Reaching out to the NGOs he said that the hazard line need not be demarcated in 2019 as it is not for implementation and it’s only for making disaster management effective in case of tsunami or something. 

“GCZMA will write to the NCSCM that the draft is being sent back to incorporate all the suggestion made in the first hearing of the MLAs and then get it back for discussions before putting it into the public domain. We will come up with the plan of 2011 and the plan of 2019 as soon as possible. If needed we will meet the Union Minister for Environment to get our issues sorted out. Request everyone to see the online maps and then register your complaints with the GCZMA or with the Chief Minister or with me,” Cabral stated.

Assuring that all the objections and suggestions will be considered before finalising the plan, Chief Minister Dr Pramod Sawant said, “We will incorporate all the suggestions which the MLAs have provided and the plan will be redrafted and presented again. I assure that all the objections and suggestions will be considered. It is time that we prepare a comprehensive plan since here has not been a plan for such a long time.”