PANJIM: In a major relief to Goa, the Central government has agreed in-principle to the State’s demand not to depict the port limits in the final Coastal Zone Management Plan (CZMP) 2011, which is now in process of finalisation.
The National Coastal Zone Management Authority (NCZMA) has also agreed for notification of CZMP on 1:4,000 scale and removal of structures, excluding the government authorised, from the plan.
Speaking to media persons on Wednesday, Environment Minister Nilesh Cabral said that during his recent meeting with the secretary of the Union Ministry for Environment, Forest and Climate Change (MoEF&CC) and representatives of the NCZMA, a detailed presentation was made based on which, the Central authorities agreed in-principle to the State’s demand.
“Centre has in-principle agreed to the three major issues – removal of port limits and structures and notification based on 1:4,000 scale. These were the issues that were creating hurdles in the finalisation process. In next few months, the CZMP 2011 should be finalised,” he said.
During the meeting, the State government pointed out that the port limits for the States of Maharashtra, Kerala and Tamil Nadu are also not depicted on CZMP 2011 and that the depiction of port limits is not a statutory requirement as per CRZ Notification 2011.
The NCZMA had initially declined to agree on the State’s demand on port limit depiction.
The State had earlier requested the NCZMA to remove the depiction of port limits on the ground that there are two major and five minor notified ports in Goa and both major and minor ports are depicted in a single colour creating doubt in the minds of the people, that all areas depicted within the port limits are that of the major port.
Also, in the meeting it was highlighted that the Department of Survey and Land Records had promulgated revenue maps with existing structures in 1974 which have been utilised for the preparation of the draft plan and many structures were constructed between 1974 and 1991 and are not reflected in the revenue maps.
Cabral said that only archaeological heritage sites, structures like lighthouses and other government related infrastructures will be depicted in the plan.
