Team Herald
PORVORIM: The State government has said that the National Institute of Oceanography (NIO), one of seven expert agencies listed by the Centre, had failed to revert to the State for preparing Coastal Zone Management Plan (CZMP) owing to which the government appointment National Centre for Sustainable Coastal Management (NCSCM), Chennai for the project.
“The Coastal Regulation Zone Notification 2011 was issued by the Ministry of Environment Forest and Climate Change in January, 2011. The CZMP was required to be prepared within two years from the date of the Notification. The State Government sought quotations from the agencies notified by Ministry of Environment Forest and Climate Change in 2013 and work order was issued to the NIO, Goa, soon thereafter. However there was no progress in the same. In the meantime, the Ministry of Environment Forest and Climate Change decided that the HTL for all the States will be depicted only by the National Centre for Sustainable Coastal Management, Chennai,” Environment Minister Nilesh Cabral said while replying to a calling attention notice moved by the Opposition benches in the Legislative Assembly.
Cabral said the government terminated the work order of NIO and entrusted the said work of preparation of CZMP, 2011 to Chennai agency in April, 2016 that submitted the first Draft Plan in the year 2017. “However during the presentation before the elected members, it was seen that there were a lot of errors and therefore the State sought revision of the plan from NCSCM,” he further said.
The Minister was replying to the motion that read as, “Fear and anxiety in the minds of the people because of the delay in finalizing the Coastal Zone Management Plan, particularly the identification of sand dunes, and the impact it will have on local fishing activity, trade and environment. The steps the Government intends to take in this regards.”
