01 Mar 2021  |   06:09am IST

Draft CZMP needs to be corrected: Orlim sabha

Appeals to govt to preserve river tributaries for fishing purpose; Requests VP to write to GCZMA their objections to the several discrepancies

Team Herald

ORLIM: The Orlim special gram sabha on Sunday firmly opposed the draft Coastal Zone Management Plan (CZMP) with the villagers requesting the panchayat to write to the concerned government department such as the Goa Coastal Zone Management Authority (GCZMA) their objections to the several discrepancies observed in the draft CZMP.

“The Orlim villagers have appealed to the panchayat by submitting over 1,200 objections regarding the CZMP requesting the panchayat to write to the concerned government department such as the GCZMA forwarding their objections with a resolution being passed in this regard. Orlim villagers have to prepare their CZMP,” Sarpanch Tamica D’Silva said.

Tamica said, “The Orlim special gram sabha convened on Sunday discussed and deliberated on the draft CZMP which was strongly opposed by the villagers mainly due to the coastal village being included within the Mormugao Port Trust (MPT) Port limits. The villagers also declared their strong objections to the CZMP as it has several discrepancies such as out of the five sluice gates marked in the plan submitted by the villagers, only three sluice gates were shown with only one sluice gate accurately marked and the others wrongly marked in this plan. Besides, marking a bandh in the khazan land shown where the villagers residential houses as well as a hazard line in the village.”

Tamica said, “This CZMP needs to be corrected and we appeal to the government to preserve the river tributaries for fishing purpose as if it is handed over to the Ports, the local fishing community will be severely deprived. These fishing areas need to be maintained for the local fishermen as the river tributaries have been included in the port limits. Also there are private owners on the river banks as well as a small island in the river. Last time, these survey numbers were given when we had submitted the draft CZMP prepared by the villagers but they have not been included in this draft CZMP.”

Five panchas were present for the special gram sabha with one panch member tiatrist Clara Dias having recently expired. 

The panchayat will now write to the Salcete BDO regarding the vacancy in this ladies reserved ward, the sarpanch added.