PANJIM: Locals of Sancoale and members of Sancoale Bio-Diversity Committee along with Cortalim MLA Anton Vaz halted the desilting works at Marman shipyard in Sancoale.
Vaz said that permissions were acquired from higher authorities but not from the local authorities such as the panchayat.
“I heard that there was dredging going on here, so I immediately came here and informed the manager and Verna PI to stop the work, they had taken permission from the Mormugao Port Authority(MPA) and the Goa Coastal Zone Management Authority (GCZMA) and not the lower authorities such as the panchayat, WRD and TCP,” said Vaz.
Sancoale Bio-Diversity committee member Eddie Fernandes asserted that the permissions for desilting was sought over a year ago with signatures from the chief engineer at the MPA. “If they could get permission from the MPA a year ago then they could have got permission from the panchayat within a year as well,” said Fernandes.
Fernandes expressed his doubts saying that instead of desilting activities there could be a possibility of dredging activities taking place.
“I don’t think its desilting. I don’t know how this was permitted to be constructed in the low lying river bed here. I feel they will draft a channel of two metres here,” said Fernandes.
Shipyard representative Abhinav Godbole said that he has valid permission from the MPA and GCZMA, and added works are being carried out for desilting and must not be confused with dredging. “Desilting is the removing of silt which has been accumulated over 10 years, because of mining ban there was no movement and we are not able to launch the vessel because of inadequate depth. We are creating a one metre depth which was done 10 years ago before the ban,” said Godbole.
As per the naval architects certified calculations Godbole said that the launching draft of the vessel is 1.5 metres and that they will be removing one metre excess stilt. “We got permission from MPA and GCZMA and we have submitted a letter to the panchayat and are awaiting permission, said Godbole adding that they will stop the desilting activity for now.
