A few friends and I recently watched the film, Grapes of Wrath directed by John Ford and based on a novel by John Stienbeck that went on to win the Pulitzer Prize in 1939! It’s a fantastic film and as concerned citizens of Taleigao and farmers who have been constantly raising our voices for the protection of agrarian lands and conserving the food bowls of the village, it was something that helped us to understand the workings of corporates on land grab and companies pushing the poor farmers out. The film is about a family whose land like many in the drought-ridden region is taken over by the bank and how they are forced to look for greener pastures and the many hardships they face.
It seemed to have a telling connection to all that is happening in Goa today. The filling up of fields, the cutting of trees in Mollem, the airport in Mopa, IIT at Melaulim, Marina at Nauxi, the draft coastal zone management plans that has been prepared by an outside agency appointed by the central government with no regard to local communities, local resources and traditional infrastructure and livelihoods.
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A few days before the public hearing for the draft CZMP in Goa was announced and after the venue was shifted for the North Goa District to Kala Academy, all attempts to source the plans from a shared drive on the CZMPA Goa portal were fruitless. The plans were inaccessible and therefore we were unable to download them. Friends from our network shared the relevant plans a day before the ‘public hearing’. On quickly scanning the plans, the colours and the lines make the plans look well marked and for a technical person, the legends make it legible. One minute examination, the errors or missing elements become more visible. Prominent creek missing, sluice gates missing, physical features too missing.
On further scrutiny one can easily discover that all the complex lines and markings are covered by this distinct hatch of blue dotted lines right over the blue of the sea, rivers and internal waterways. Besides this it is also covering the beach and land within 500 mts of the high tide line of all the beaches and banks along the coast and riverine areas. And this marking is indicated ‘port limits’ in the legend. That is it! The plans had no further explanation on what this ‘port limits’ meant or its implications!
On inquiry with our friends and lawyers we finally got a copy of the document titled ‘Major Port Authorities Bill 2020’! Now this bill has already got the nod of the Rajya Sabha and is pending the signatures of the President after which it becomes an Act and comes under the purview of the law. These are the few clauses in the bill that caught my eye. Port limits are defined as all spaces like jetties, quays, landing spaces, etc, made on behalf of the public for convenience of traffic, for safety of vessels or for the improvement or maintenance or good governance of the Major port and its approaches as may be determined by the Central Government by way of a notification from time to time! Another clause also states that the limits also include port related activities. And still another clause states that the Board/committee of the Major port may erect, construct or build civil structures for port development or improving commerce and trade in national interest for which no licenses will be required by the State authorities!
Currently the Environment and Power minister, Nilesh Cabral has stated in numerous interviews and press statements that the port limits are nothing new, it was already defined years ago post liberation, that all the development projects happening in Goa are needed and that yes, the environment will be impacted because of this needed development. He has also stated that the public hearing that was conducted for the Draft CZMP was done with due procedures and that the people disrupted the proceedings. That the people who were inside did not allow the people outside from coming in! That people had not registered as per requirement. Besides that he has stated that activists and environmentalists are unnecessarily objecting to projects and misleading people regarding coal transportation, double tracking, road widening for coal transportation and the Tanmar power transmission line and substation projects. He says he is terribly upset and has felt humiliated when people have made coffins, booed him and not accepted his efforts for developing Goa with these mega projects which may be anti environment but they are for the future of Goa.
Now read all the above in connection to what has recently happened in Chennai! The same group involved in transporting coal has a port in Kattupali. After purchasing a portion of the port from L&T, within a year, it has asked for the waters around the port to be declared a ‘No fishing Zone’. The current port foot print is 331 acres. In its expansion it has proposed to enlarge the port to 6100 acres of which 2000 acres will be new land created by dumping sand on some of the richest fishing grounds of the near shore areas. The ‘No fishing area’ for the current 331 acre port is 7.7 sq km. The expanded port of 2000 acres will need nearly 50 sq km of ‘No fishing zone’.
The fishermen are appealing to the political parties as they will be wiped out of their livelihoods. And no one is listening.
The group head has increased his wealth and net worth over this period of the lock down at the cost of the less privileged. Who is aiding this? We all know. Who is losing everything, land and home? Livelihood and identity?
(Tallulah D’Silva is an architect and features in the Top 20 Golden Door Awards 2020 shortlist of international writers)
