It has now come to this. Imagine concrete structures close to the beaches of Goa. Hotels, restaurants, clubs all related to tourism, and also possibly upscale houses and residential buildings. These are not traditional activities along the coast and the beaches of Goa are still free of these for the moment, but this scenario could soon turn into a reality. And with this could come flattened sand dunes. All the time and effort that Goa’s environmentalists and environment activists have invested in protecting the environment, have been wrought to nought by the Coastal Regulation Zone 2018 that has got the nod of the Union cabinet. There have been angry reactions that these new rules will sound the death knell of the coastal areas.
The opposition to the Coastal Regulation Zone 2018 is growing in the State. It was to be expected. After having fought to protect the fragile areas from the bulldozer of rampant and unplanned development that does not take the fragile ecology into consideration, Goa’s protectors of the environment wouldn’t accept the new notification that dilutes the CRZ notification of 1991. The Centre for Responsible Tourism (CRT) for instance, has demanded the withdrawal of the rules claiming this would sound the death knell of the coastal communities. While others are yet to come out vocally, this is one issue that is not going to die down quickly or easily.
What is interesting here is that there are claims that the rules that have been cleared by the Union cabinet are a ‘verbatim reproduction of the draft notification’ that was released in April last year seeking comments and suggestions from the people. If that is so, it is pertinent to note how the people of Goa and the government had responded to the draft notification when it had been released for comments and suggestions in April last year.
A large number of NGOs in Goa had sent in their objections to the dilution of the CRZ rules. One of the main objections that NGOs had to the draft notification was the reduction of the CRZ to 50 metres from the High Tide Line (HTL) from the earlier 200 metres. This reduction, it had been pointed out, would result in massive changes to the landscape of the State, as it will allow development in areas where it is now prohibited. The State government, however, in its response to the draft had gone ahead requesting permission for the erection of temporary seasonal structures like beach shacks, huts and other promotional activities like beach wedding and music festival, in the inter-tidal zone, an activity that is otherwise prohibited in this area.
It is obvious, therefore, that there is a massive difference between what the people want and what the government wants in the area of environment and protection of the fragile coastal areas, and that the letter that the State had sent to the Union Ministry of Environment did not reflect the people’s views. While environmentalists and activists believe that the new CRZ rules will cause much harm to the areas along the sea, the government is looking at it as a means to further its tourism potential of the State. It is also indicative of the fact that the government does not take into consideration the views of the people on the subject.
There is unanimity among environment conscious persons that the new rules will not be in favour of the environment, and strangely these have been drafted by the very ministry that is supposed to be the defender of the environment. We have come far from 1991 when the CRZ notification had been first released. Instead of making it stronger towards the protection of the environment, it has been diluted several times over to the detriment of the fragile ecological areas.
