Team Herald
PANJIM: The fishermen of Goa, both from the North and South Goa are an agitated lot and they say they will go to any extent if their grievances regarding the Coastal Zone Management Plan (CZMP) are not met and more public hearings are not held.
It may be recalled that Traditional Fishermen Association and Goenchea Raponkarancho Ekvott (GRE) had earlier approached the High Court calling for it to be postponed.
On Sunday, the fishermen said they were not given a chance to speak due to the restrictions and or access to apply at both hearings.
In the end, they only managed to hand in a letter wherein they reiterated their demand for the hearing to be postponed and alleged that the public hearing was not held as per the legal norms and stipulated guidelines.
They termed it as ‘personal’ hearings and questioned why only this hearing only, unlike other public hearings allowed such limited numbers. They also countered the justification of COVID and questioned how then, the Zilla Panchayat elections, public events like Carnival were organised and the upcoming municipal elections allowed.
Speaking to Herald, Olencio Simoes, General Secretary of GRE and the National Fishworkers Forum (NFF) said Environment Minister Nilesh Cabral and the Goa Coastal Zone Management Authority (GCZMA) have to relook into the errors that are on the CZMP plan and hold additional public hearings until all the concerns of all affected people are addressed.
Pointing out to the vast areas in Goa have been marked as port limits, Olencio explained that besides the water area, it also demarcated land upto 50 metres of the high tide line (HTL) and that rivers including the likes of a rivulet in Velsao and other inland waterways have been marked.
“In the future, you will have a scenario where fishermen, toddy tappers, coastal dwellers or even those involved in tourism activities will have difficulties accessing the beach and other coastal areas. MPT may start a project there and these people who will be affected will have to then ask the port for permissions,” said Simoes.
