PANJIM: The Environment Department (ED) has failed to stick to its own deadlines, till date, dished-out to complete the process of finalisation of the Coastal Zone Management Plan (CZMP) for the State. It appears that Goa is once again going to face the ire of National Green Tribunal (NGT), which has already warned of coercive action against the officers if the plan is not finalised by November 15.
It is important to note that the Environment Department is also yet to issue advertisement for holding crucial public hearing on the draft CZMP, one of the mandatory procedures before finalising the plan, which as per rule has to be a one month in advance. As per the plan of action prepared by the department, the advertisement was supposed to be out by October 4 for holding public hearing on November 5.
However, it appears that pending amendment to the CRZ notification 2011 with regards to demarcation of High Tide Line (HTL), Government finds it irrelevant to finalise the draft plan, as HTL has been the main cause of concern raised by the villagers, fishermen and NGOs.
Admitting that government has missed out its own deadlines, sources confirmed that the State is lying low on the finalisation of the plan pending clarity on the demarcation of High Tide Line (HTL), which is currently shown in Khazan land, beyond sluice gate. “Unless there is amendment to the CRZ notification 2011 to exclude HTL, the entire exercise of finalising the plan would be futile,” sources said.
Environment Minister Nilesh Cabral had last month met officials of Union Ministry for Environment, Forest and Climate Change (MOEF&CC) seeking various amendments to the CRZ notification 2011 to allow state to exclude HTL in khazan land, so as to facilitate to draw a practical CZMP. He had pointed out that village panchayats and concerned citizens have raised their strong objection over erroneous demarcation of HTL.
The department had in mid-September prepared plan of action to expedite the process, as per which the final date for submission of suggestions and objections on the draft plan, prepared by Chennai based National Centre for Sustainable Coastal Management (NCSCM) was September 21. However, the same was extended up to October 14, with only 36 panchayats submitting their plans for correction.
By October 1, the NCSCM was supposed to submit the fresh or revised consolidated village wise plans in 1:4000 scale by incorporating the suggestions and objections as given by Goa Coastal Zone Management Authority (GCZMA). However, that too could not be met as the villages continued to submit their revised plans until October 14.
As per the timeline, by October 3, the environment department was supposed to dispatch village wise plans at designated places like Panchayats, municipalities, block development offices, district collectors, etc, for public scrutiny.
Following public hearing on November 5, the NCSCM has to incorporate public inputs while preparing the final plan after which the village wise plans will be resubmitted to the government for approval on November 9.
Government will consider the revised plan on November 10, while GCZMA will deliberate on the plan on November 12. The decision of the GCZMA will be forwarded to the MoEF&CC on November 13.
