SATURDAY, APRIL 20, 2024
One of the biggest flaws with the earlier draft Coastal Zone Management Plan (CZMP) of 2019, was the faulty understanding of the khazan system. For instance, they point out that bunds have been broken by force and sluice gates manipulated, for fishing activities, which have caused damage to the agricultural fields. However, in the earlier the 2019 draft, these man-made saltwater intrusions were also marked as CRZ areas, which created a lot of commotion and opposition as several houses of people were affected and could have been up for demolition if that CZMP had to be adopted. It was then recommended to the National Centre for Sustainable Coastal Management (NCSCM) in Chennai to only mark the original CRZ areas and not these areas, where there is saltwater due to the recent destruction of these traditional centuries-old bunds. While the State government last year appointed an 11-member committee headed by expert Dr Simon D’Souza to prepare a draft plan on the management of khazans, questions have been raised as to why the recommendations of this committee have not been incorporated in the present draft CZMP. Here is a look at one of the many recommendations of the govt committee on how khazans should be demarcated, given that khazan and mangroves markings are seen in the CZMP maps.
The panel recommended that each Khazan Land Ecosystem should be demarcated in four zones as follows:
1Zone S-3 where salinity is high, and only local salinity resistant rice cultivation, traditional salt farming and traditional fishery can be practised.
2 Zone S-2, on the landward of Zone S-3, where salinity is medium and salt tolerant improved rice varieties can be cultivated.
3Zone S-1 near the border of Khazan Land abutting the settlement area where salinity is insignificant and shallow fresh water table is present. Here local vegetables 'and/or' high yielding Rabi Rice can be cultivated after the harvest of the improved Kharif Rice.
4 Zone HS constituting highly saline and abandoned Khazan lands, which are in an uncultivated state for a very long period due to dilapidated conditions of the bunds and where mangroves are regenerating due to marshy conditions created by highly eroded protective bunds.
Incidentally, the committee report which covers the khazan system in great detail, also talks about the importance and functions of the ‘Sluice Gates’ (locally known as Manas) as well as bunds of these khazan lands, both of which are referred to in the CZMP maps.
Further, on the issue of mangroves, which has been another major topic of discussion regarding the CZMP, the panel’s report emphasises, that the mangroves, which grow on the exterior of the bunds, act as a natural barrier for protection against the erosive forces of tides, waves and currents
The panel also highlights the importance of Poins, water bodies located in the interior of Khazan lands. They point out that these Poins act as a buffer to regulate the contents of saline and fresh water.
Overall, they also observe that as per available records, in Goa, a total of area of 18921 HA is occupied by khazan lands, which are protected by main bunds with a total length of 433 km. In addition, the panel explains that there are a number of secondary bunds and smaller bunds which serve to control water level in individual rice fields and also as pathways to approach the said fields for cultivation and allied operations. They point out that the total length occupied by all types of bunds in the State is roughly estimated at about 2000 km.
