CARMONA: Carmona gram sabha members at the extraordinary meeting on Wednesday expressed their ire over the various anomalies in the draft Coastal Zone Management Plan (CZMP) for the village.
“The Carmona gram sabha members were furious as they did not get sufficient time to verify the draft CZMP as it was received by the Carmona panchayat on the same day in the morning. The panchayat members and the gram sabha members jointly studied the plan in detail and submitted various suggestions concerning the CZMP that will be forwarded to the concerned authorities. The gram sabha members also remarked that the various sluice gates, mangroves and fields are also misinterpreted in the plan and do not correspond to the plan submitted to the Goa Coastal Zone Management Authority (GCZMA) earlier and the gram sabha members sought more time to study and file objections/suggestions,” sarpanch Allwyn Jorge said.
“The gram sabha members were critical of the Major Ports Authority Act under which Mormugao Port Trust (MPT) as a major port of the State will have unlimited powers over the master plan under which the State government or the local authority will not have any say in case of any conflict over any regulations made by the Board. The gram sabha members further demanded that the Port Limits of the River Sal be removed from the CZMP and River Sal be maintained purely for the fishermen. The gram sabha members also drew attention to a jetty shown on the plan to which the sarpanch clarified that no such proposal has been sent or received by his office. The sarpanch informed the gram sabha members that nationalisation of rivers, CZMP and dredging seems to be pointing towards making River Sal as a transit waterway for cargo,” said Jorge, adding that the ordinary gram sabha will be held on March 14.
