The importance of attending the public hearing cannot be over stressed. If the Coastal Zone Management Plan is cleared with the errors that it currently contains, then getting it rectified at a later date will be a long and arduous process. So it is now, today and at the Kala Academy in Panjim and the Ravindra Bhavan in Margao, where the people have to gather to correct whatever is wrong in the village plans that have been drafted in Chennai and sent to the Goa government.
The public hearings that will be taking place in Panjim and Margao have already drawn criticism for the hurried manner in which the government has sought to organise them and then scheduling them on the same day. Not only will having them simultaneously prevent experts and scientists from attending both, restricting the number of people attending, allotting just five minutes to each speaker and asking the remaining speakers to give their representations in writing by March 15 further clouds the efficacy of the exercise. Is the public hearing being held only to meet the provisions of the law? Or is it an opportunity for the people to put forward their genuine concerns and suggestions to improve the plan that will affect every one of them?
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Goa is a sliver of area that can be termed to be entirely ecologically sensitive. It has the Arabian Sea on its West which makes the coast vulnerable to any changes in land usage and just 60 km inland has the Western Ghats which are acknowledged to be an ecological hotspot. Any changes in the coastal area can affect the areas inland and any changes in the hinterland can have an adverse effect on the coast. Currently Goa is fighting the felling of thousands of trees in the Mollem forest, while on the coast it is striving to ensure that the water bodies are correctly mapped. The success of both depends on the will of the people.
There are complaints that the village plans prepared by the Chennai-based agency have missed out marking certain ecological areas, fishing spots, breeding areas and other zones. This has to be corrected before the Coastal Zone Management Plan is sent to the Centre to be finalised. Residents of the coastal areas in particular have to turn up at the public hearing and voice their concerns to the authorities. The correction of the plan can become certain only if the people make their presence felt at the hearing and put forth their demands unconditionally. Limiting the number of people and the time that they are given to speak, will place a cloud over the efficacy of the public hearing. This should not have occurred.
There have been appeals made by non-governmental organisations and others to the people to attend the public hearings. A large attendance in expected, but this will be ineffective if they are not allowed to have a say. At the end of the day, every Goan voice that is raised today at the public hearing has to be heard, the suggestion made has to be considered and if it is for the long-term benefit of Goa should be included in the Coastal Zone Management Plan. This should be a non-negotiable, for otherwise the hearing becomes a mere formality, even a farce, which is not in the interest of Goa – of the land and the people. What the people want is that their land be preserved for generations to come and this plan will help do it.
