It’s a tactical victory for the opponents of the marina project at Nauxim. The public hearing that had been scheduled for November 2, has been postponed till after the Coastal Zone Management Plan (CZMP) is finalised and presented to the National Green Tribunal (NGT). That was one of the demands, the other was to scrap the marina project completely. The latter has not been met, but there is a buoyancy among the protesters, who feel that the postponement of the hearing will serve to present their case against the project with added inputs. As the MLAs of the areas have put it, they will have stronger grounds to oppose the marina that is proposed to be developed across 1,00,000 square metres, in the water off Nauxim.
The reason for this is the CZMP, which is going to turn into the main weapon for those opposing the marina project. Under the CZMP, Nauxim has been identified and marked as a fishing village, and by virtue of that the project for the marina will ultimately stand scrapped, as there is no posibility of development of this sort in a fishing village, claim the opponents of the project. The general feeling now is that there will really be no need for the people of the village, and others who are opposed to the marina, to fight hard to get it scrapped. Their battle will be half won by the CZMP that will give them all the ammunition they need to train upon the project.
It is for these reasons that the Coastal Zone Management Plan turns incredibly important and the reason why the plan should be free from any and all errors. If the traditional occupations of the people of Goa living along the coasts and river banks are to be protected, if the the flora and fauna that make up the coastal environment are to be saved for another century, then the CZMP becomes the key to safeguarding them. What the CZMP is looking at is protecting the livelihoods of the people, while also protecting the fragile coastal environment. And Goa cannot afford to make any mistakes when it comes to protecting this very delicate balance that today exists.
One of the principal reasons for the opposition is that the marina will interfere with the marine biodiversity of the area. The promoters state that the project will ‘contribute towards increased marine biodiversity’ and that they meet green marina standards without pollution as per international standards. But by their own admission, the sea bed is rocky in areas and so will required to be dredged to achieve the desired draft, to allow the boats to sail and dock at the facility once it is ready. The dredging material, they have stated is approved by the Union Ministry of Environment, Forests and Climate Change (MoEFCC). The question is won’t the dredging interfere with the existing marine biodiversity? And will the increase marine biodiversity bring in species that are not indigenous to the region? These are questions that also have to be pondered upon.
For now, the government has taken the right decision in postponing the public hearing on the marina project. What happens in the future depends on the opponents of the marina and on how they are able to regroup after the CZMP is finalised to ensure that their battle is fully won, and how the proponents of the marina take up this new challenge. For the villagers of Nauxim, the battle is a long way from having been won. They may gain new ammunition for the fight but it will not be as easy as it may now appear to them. The journey ahead is long and will be fraught with pitfalls.
