PANJIM: Four weeks after the High Court directing the Goa Coastal Zone Management Authority (GCZMA) to dispose the show cause notice it had issued to a hotel that had constructed a concrete linear wall on Vainguinim beach, the authority has failed to take any action.
After initially constantly postponing the personal hearings in the matter, the Authority hasn’t disposed off the show cause notice that was issued following a site inspection carried out by its expert members after locals had complained about the aforementioned construction.
As per the minutes of GCZMA’s meeting held on May 27, the authority stated that after lengthy deliberations, it was decided that the Expert Members (GCZMA) would visit GCZMA office to peruse the documents and replies filed by the parties. Accordingly decision on the matter was deferred.
This despite the fact that the expert members, who were present for the May 27th meeting, were also part of the inspection that had issued the show cause notice, which had already raised several red flags regarding construction work.
Meanwhile, the complainants have decided to move an application for correction of the minutes as it contains statements in respect of yet another site inspection, which they claim were never made by them before the GCZMA.
The locals will also be initiating separate action against the Water Resources Department (WRD) for issuing construction permission in 2021, when its consultation was to be based on the permission of GCZMA which was only for repair works granted in 2017. GCZMA has already noted that the ongoing linear wall construction is a new work, and not repairs as permitted under the NOC.
They also questioned under what powers WRD issued the permissions.
Finally, the locals are also planning to file their objections to another application filed by the hotel seeking permission for other works before the GCZMA, which also came up for discussions at the authority’s meeting.
