Team Herald
MARGAO: The Coastal Zone Management Plans submitted to the villages were rejected at four gram sabhas held in Salcete on Sunday.
Village Panchayats of Rachol, Camurlim, Raia and Guirdolim rejected the draft CZMP primarily on the grounds that the suggestions they had made earlier are not incorporated in the plans.
All four village panchayats had the same complaint that though they had made various suggestions and recommendations based on the ground reality, the same were not incorporated in the plans sent to them. In fact, this was a specific complaint at the Guirdolim gram sabha.
The Rachol gram sabha observed that it being an island, the CZMP has to be authentic, as otherwise it would create problems to the inhabitants even if they want to carry out minor repairs to their houses, many of which are along the river edge.
Similarly, Raia gram sabha objected to bringing their village under the Port Limit as per the draft CZMP and argued that earlier their village was never shown to be coming within the Port Limit. Villager Martin Rodrigues pointed this out after Edwin Vaz explained the draft CZMP to the villagers.
Camurlim gram sabha rejected the plan not only because their suggestions were not incorporated but also because the Coastal Zone Management Authority did not bother to reply to their two letters asking for an expert to be delegated to explain the plan to the people.
