TEAM HERALD
PANJIM: In a bid to grant relief to the traditional coastal inhabitants, whose houses were identified by the Coastal Regulation Zone (CRZ) authorities for demolition, the Goa government has sought permission from the Ministry of Environment and Forests (MoEF) for regularization of such dwellings, existing in the CRZ area prior to 1991.
In a proposal forwarded to MoEF, State government has said that the government mulls to consider regularization of the dwellings on case-to-case basis, subject to the condition that these structures were not used for commercial activity or sold out or leased out to non-traditional local community.
House Committee on CRZ headed by Chief Minister Manohar Parrikar has proposed regularization of traditional units and accordingly the proposal was moved to MoEF, as per which the traditional inhabitants would have to prove their existence in the CRZ area prior to 1991 and that they are engaged in traditional activities and residents of Goa.
Committee is currently in process of identifying the number of traditional units coming under CRZ and those dwellings which had received demolition notices for being in the zone.
Secretariat sources confirmed that State has no powers to take any decision in regards to regularization of houses under CRZ, as it comes within the ambit of MoEF. “The dwelling units of the traditional coastal communities including fisherfolk and tribals as were permissible under the provisions of the CRZ notification, 1991, but which have not obtained formal approval from authorities concerned under the aforesaid notification shall be considered for regularisation on case-to-case basis,” official said.
State government in August 2012 had constituted a House Committee to look into the issues pertaining to the traditional inhabitants, who were served demolition notices by local panchayats as per CRZ notification 2011.
High Court, in a suo moto writ petition, had directed coastal village panchayats to identify and initiate action against all such structures which had been constructed post February 19, 1991, within No Development Zone (NDZ) areas, i.e. 0-200 metres of high tide line (HTL) of sea coast. This was followed by another direction from the High Court in a public interest writ petition to village panchayats on coast to identify and take action in accordance with law against those structures which had come up in excess of double the number of units existing as on February 19, 1991.
