The people had pointed out inconsistencies in the earlier plan but the process of completion took a new turn when ministers in the government themselves found errors in it and sought that the plan be redrafted. That was in June 2019. Now, two and an half years later, the State is still struggling to come up with a plan that will be acceptable to all.
The reason for the current delay is that the authorities are still on the corrections to the plan based on the ground truthing exercise to verify the 7000 suggestions and observations that were made by the people. After that is completed, the plan will be placed before the Goa Coastal Zone Management Authority (GCZMA) for approval, then recommended to the National Coastal Zone Management Authority (NCZMA) for its nod, and after review, recommended to the Union Ministry for Environment, Forest and Climate Change (MoEF&CC), for approval and notification. December 31, 2021 is therefore out of question. Nothing new for Goa as the State has been missing these deadlines since November 2019. That’s when the plan should have been ready.
But, the plan could well get delayed by a few more months for other reasons too. The State will enter into the election code of conduct period sometime in January, or perhaps even earlier, that will likely remain in force till mid-March. During this time, as has been the practice in the past, little work may actually get done on the plan as the government goes into a kind of limbo. This could extend the delay and a final decision be taken only by the new government that will take charge in March 2022 after the elections. The coastal zone management plan therefore may not get completed till the next monsoon at the earliest.
The bigger question is how will the new dispensation, if there is a change in government, react to the existing plan. The CZMP has turned into a political issue and a new government from a different party could desire to gain mileage out of reworking the plan entirely. Remember what occurred to the Regional Plan 2011? That episode is still fresh in one’s mind. There could be a repeat of that and delays in finalising the CZMP is something Goa does not require.
The government, however, can be assured of one thing – the people will not accept a plan that is not in the interests of Goa and Goans. People in the coastal areas had drafted their own village plans and handed them over to the authorities for inclusion in the final plan. The hearings in July on the plan in both districts gave an indication of just how serious the people are about it and concerned that it should be the best for Goa. That there were 7000 objections and suggestions is indicative of how meticulously the final plan will be scanned for errors. The government cannot afford another mess-up. So it has to be careful, but can’t the process be hurried along?
Yet, isn’t it the government that is responsible for the delay? For instance, had not there been errors in 2019, the plan would possibly have been ready by now. Also, had the hearings of the plan held in March this year not been found to be wanting in many aspects and the State not been asked to hold them again in July, the plan may have had been ready. It is not the people who have delayed the plan, it is the authorities and it is they who should take the responsibility for Goa being is the only State that is yet to complete the coastal plan.
