Team Herald
VASCO: The National Fish-workers Forum (NFF) Vice-Chairperson Olencio Simoes has warned Union Shipping Minister Nitin Gadkari not to convert Goa’s coastline into international sea port and bringing back Special Economic Zone (SEZ) to the State.
“We are categorically warning Gadkari and the State government not to go ahead with any such proposal from the Centre which will destroy our coastline of 105 kilometres,” Simoes said.
He said that the carrying capacity of the Goa coastline is saturated and around 20 percent of the coastline has already been affected by erosion.
“Apart from our beaches, the Colvale area and River Talpona have seen shattering erosion. We strongly demand that Gadkari should not make statements without knowing the ground reality and he should know the fact that out of 7,516.6 kilometres of coastline in the our country, about 42 percent of the coast has already been washed away and the main cause is the unplanned ports/ harbours which are also documented by National Institute of Port Management (IIPM),” Simoes added.
He said that the coastlines of Vengurla, Goa and Karwar are very fragile and fishermen communities from these areas would oppose SEZ or any form of development on their coasts.
“Similarly, Goa has the highest population density of 450 people per square kilometre as against 150 for the all-India average and in this context, giving away land from Goa’s scarce land resource for nationalisation of rivers, double railway line, four and six lane roads, new international sea ports, SEZ’s etc. is not acceptable by the people of Goa,” he said.
