Team Herald
PANJIM: In what could be termed as victory for the villagers of St Cruz, who have been fighting to protect the Bondvol Lake, the State government has decided to notify the oldest water resource of the village as wetland.
“We have decided that Bondvol lake be notified as wetland, through the Environment Department. We will submit this decision to the High Court. It is for the court to decide then,” Minister for Environment Nilesh Cabral told reporters on Monday.
“The government has appointed the National Institute of Oceanography to identify wetlands across the State, following which we will notify these,” he added.
During a meeting, which had been convened by the Goa State Wetland Authority with the St Cruz villagers this July, the residents had demanded that their ancient lake be notified as wetland to protect it for their future generations.
The government’s move for identifying more wetlands follows the recent National Green Tribunal order directing the State government to identify additional wetlands in Goa and protect wetlands of less than five hectares under the existing Wetlands Rules or Act, within three months and submit a report before it.
The government had revealed that during the first meeting of Goa State Wetland Authority in 2016, 385 wetlands have been delineated, which have an area more than 5 hectares, and 167 wetlands are less than 2.25 hectares. Moreover, there are 101 Inland Wetlands, wherein 29 are located in North Goa and 72 in South Goa District, and another 282 Coastal Wetlands – 112 in North and 70 in South Goa.
The government submitted that during the meeting, it was decided to initiate the process of notification of four important wetlands as identified in the Wetlands Atlas being Salaulim Reservoir, Anjunem Reservoir, Carambolim Lake and Chorao Wildlife Sanctuary. Accordingly instructions were issued to the Goa State Biodiversity Board.
On the other contentious issue of Coastal Zone Management Plan, the minister stated that it has planned a new strategy to notify it and that the plan was submitted exactly a day before the deadline of November 15. The upcoming cabinet will discuss the issue.
