PANJIM: Goans against CRZ (GACRZ) on Wednesday laid down a 10-day ultimatum to Goa Coastal Zone Management Authority (GCZMA) to reject the draft CRZ Notification 2018 and withdraw all three amendments to CRZ notification 2011.
Activists and leaders from political parties like AAP and Congress held a demonstration outside the Goa Coastal Zone Management Authority office in Porvorim under the banner of Goans against CRZ and also submitted a memorandum to Goa Coastal Zone Management Authority member secretary Ravi Jha.
“This notification is in gross violation of the principle of non-regression which is founded on the idea that “environmental law should not be modified to the detriment of environmental protection”. The Constitutional mandates under Articles 14, 19, 21 and 243, as well as the well established Rights of Indigenous Communities that Free, Prior and Informed Consent (FPIC) must be obtained from any indigenous community if any of their rights are to be altered. Therefore this notification is against the law of the land and should be scrapped in toto,” Goans against CRZ said.
They added, “Draft CRZ 2018 is proposed only to facilitate the Sagarmala programme in which Goa will be made a coal hub via Mormugao Port Trust (MPT) and our six rivers, which are nationalised, will be used for shipping cargo. It will have a devastating impact on the environment, coastal ecosystem, the livelihood of the fishing community, marine bio-diversity, tourism, local businessmen and the people of Goa at large.”
Goans against CRZ has also demanded converting CRZ 2011 notification into Coastal Regulation Zone Act (CRZ Act), withdraw all three amendments to CRZ Notification 2001 done through SO 3197 (E) dated July 2, 2018.
