Team Herald
PANJIM: Ahead of drafting Coastal Zone Management Plan (CZMP) 2019, the Goa government has urged the Union Ministry of Environment, Forest and Climate Change (MoEF&CC) to amend the Coastal Regulation Zone (CRZ) Notification, 2011, to allow sand mining from flowing rivers since riverbeds in the State do not dry up during the non-monsoon period.
Addressing media persons on Wednesday, Environment Minister Nilesh Cabral informed that during the recent meeting, held on September 1, of the National Coastal Zone Management Authority (NCZMA), the State has requested that sand mining, through traditional extractors, in the manual method should be permitted in the CRZ areas.
“The CRZ notification 2011 allows sand mining in dry rivers. But in Goa riverbeds do not get dried up during the non-monsoon period. During the meeting, the State put up a request before NCZMA to amend the CRZ Notification 2011 and to allow the State to extract sand from flowing rivers through traditional means so as to protect the livelihood of sand extractors and to meet the developmental needs of the State,” Cabral said.
The Minister said the situation is similar in the States of Maharashtra and Karnataka, who too extend their support to our request.
Cabral said, “The amendment to the CRZ notification 2011 needs to come before we start preparations to draft the CZMP 2019 so that the same can be incorporated in the plan.”
Cabral said in July 2019, the government entrusted the National Institute of Oceanography (NIO) to study the impact of sand mining on the marine bio-diversity of the rivers. NIO has submitted the preliminary report of rivers Chapora and Tiracol, suggesting that whatever sand bars occur, the same could be manually removed through traditional means so as to meet the needs of the State.
“We have asked the National Institute of Oceanography to conduct a study of all the 11 rivers across the State on various environmental parameters. The entire report is expected to be out by next year,” he said.
