PANJIM: The Calangute Constituency Forum (CCF) on Wednesday submitted a memorandum to the Candolim village panchayat demanding action against destruction of beach vegetation and sand dunes in the coastal belt.
CCF president Premanand Diukar said that during the last two months they had reported five cases to the competent authorities about massive destruction of beach vegetation and sand dunes, which are the first line of defence during Tsunami, from Sinquerim to Candolim. “But the authorities had failed to initiate any action in protecting environment of the coastal areas,” he stated.
The villagers demanded to know why the village panchayat is not taking action against the offenders and protect the coastal environment from the destruction.
The Forum stated that it had filed a complaint dated March 1, 2022 against a developer for the destruction of sand dunes, beach vegetation and beach environment at Calangute. The developer had done mass destruction of beach vegetation by using concrete and steel and on the basis of inspection report filed by Savio Correa, the place was sealed by the Goa Coastal Zone Management Authority (GCZMA). Subsequently the competent authorities issued fresh NOC/permission for revised plan submitted by the developer even though the GCZMA was aware of the irreparable destruction of beach environment.
Though the NOC/permission was given to the project for temporary wooden huts within the No Development Zone (NDZ) area, the authorities failed to verify and restrict the developer from using heavy steel material in construction of cottages and compound with the masonary work which had direct impact on the beach environment.
The delegation demanded that the NOC/permission given to the project be revoked immediately.
