With less than two months to go before the monsoon fishing ban ends, boat owners and traditional fishermen operating from and near the Cutbona Jetty are once again grappling with uncertainty. Despite repeated assurances and the National Green Tribunal’s (NGT) conditional go-ahead nearly four years ago, the Environment Clearance (EC) for the proposed training wall at the mouth of River Sal remains elusive.
The absence of a breakwater facility at the Betul end of the river mouth has left the region’s fishing community dependent on calm tides to set out to sea and return safely. When the tidal currents turn hostile, fishermen are forced to stay ashore for days, unable to earn a living.
At the heart of the issue lies the stalled 483-metre training wall project, which the Fisheries Department initiated through the Goa State Infrastructure Development Corporation (GSIDC) more than five years ago. However, construction was abruptly halted after the Cavelossim Villagers Forum moved the NGT in 2017, arguing that the project had commenced without the legally required EC under the EIA Notification of 2006. The Tribunal sided with the Forum and directed the government to obtain the clearance before any work could resume.
Though the NGT ruling came in November 2021, boat owners say there’s been little visible progress since. “We keep hearing that a consultant has been hired and meetings have been held, but there’s no clarity on when we’ll actually see work begin,” said one of the local fishermen. “Every year, we’re left to face the same danger at sea.”
Savio D’Silva, Chairman of the Cutbona Fisheries Society, in a comment to the media, voiced frustration over the government’s inaction. “We don’t understand why the project is stuck when the NGT has already allowed it to proceed post-clearance. The fishermen are tired of hearing that the application is under process.”
Even as some sanitation issues at the jetty are being addressed following last year’s cholera outbreak — including the near-completion of a new toilet block and removal of scrap vessels — the State government has yet to match that urgency in resolving the critical safety problem at the river mouth.
Local leaders, including Cavelossim Sarpanch Dixon Vaz, had earlier met Environment Minister Aleixo Sequeira to press for the EC given the Ministers role in reviewing infrastructure and sanitation issues at Cutbona last year. Sequeira had promised to follow up, but fishers now fear they will miss yet another season unless the government acts swiftly.