Team Herald
MARGAO: Asking the government to stop lying to the people on the Coastal Zone Management Plan, Citizens for Coastal Communities, a group, has requested the State to send experts to the people and prepare a Goa-friendly CZMP.
At the press briefing the group accused Minister of Environment and Government of spreading lies to misguide and fool the people of Goa with regards to the CZMP.
The group alleged that the minister has lied to the people of Goa that there is no need to show the houses of the people on the 1:4000 CZMP maps.
“The CRZ Notification 2011 states in Annexure I that all ‘existing authorised developments’ must be shown on the maps implying that the thousands of homes and structures not shown on the plans will be considered to be illegal. The minister is therefore intentionally placing legitimate homes of tens of thousands of Goans in jeopardy,” Venzy Viegas charged.
“The minister is also trying to fool the people regarding the process followed by the Government for finalising the CZMPs. The minister has repeatedly stated that the plan is scrapped, but he is also threatening the people that if they do not file objections, the plans will be finalised without necessary corrections,” Venzy alleged.
The group has accused the Minister of terming protesters as politicians, NGOs, extortionists, etc., but the entire population claims that the group knows that most protesters are ordinary Goans affected or shocked by the threat to their rights, lives, livelihood and their very existence.
“The people of Goa have one simple and legitimate demand that the plans must be prepared by the so-called ‘experts’ in consultation with the real experts – the local stakeholders, who know the land and water better than anyone,” Xavier Fernandes from Loutolim demanded.
The group also stated that it wants to prepare the CZMPs as soon as possible and has sworn to spend their efforts and money to help prepare the plans correctly.
