MARGAO: The Loutolim Gram Sabha besides objecting to the proposed jetty at Rassaim also objected to the public hearing to be held at Ravindra Bhavan on July 7 on the Coastal Zone Management Plan (CZMP) and demanded that the public hearing be held in the village.
Incidentally, before the gram sabha, Abhijeet Prabhudessai of Rainbow Warriors made a presentation on the CZMP that has been prepared by a Chennai based company and adopted by the Goa Coastal Zone Management Authority.
He pointed out the various mistakes made in the plans that have been prepared without consulting the local stakeholders including the panchayat due to which existing houses have been shown in CRZ area thus making them liable to be demolished in the future.
The biggest and unpardonable mistake committed by NCSCM, the Chenai based company, is naming the Zuari River that borders Loutolim village as “Mandavi” river and not even Mandovi which is in the North.
The 114 villagers present for the gram sabha unanimously rejected the plan and demanded the cancellation of the public hearing scheduled on July 7, at Ravindra Bhavan. “We shall go in large numbers for the hearing only to disrupt it as the 10 minutes time given to voice our opinion is not sufficient,” chorused the villagers who demanded that the hearing be held in the village itself.
A villager Ramiro Mascarenhas pointed out that the locals including the fishermen association better known as tenants association and the panchayat have not been consulted while preparing the plan and hence major roads and even sluice gates have not been shown in it.
He also pointed out that the major Borim bridge has not been shown on the plan while an industrial workshop has been shown as a jetty thereby indicating that a jetty will be coming up there in future in consonance with the Sagarmala project.
Basilio D’Costa another villager while opposing the proposed jetty at Rassaim revealed that the existing ship repair yards in Rassaim have not been shown in the plan but the proposed jetty is shown and questioned who had prepared the Environment Impact Assessment study of the jetty.
Following much discussion the villagers rejected the proposed jetty at Rassaim and also objected to the CZMP and demanded the cancellation of the public hearing which, they said, was mere eyewash and demanded that the public hearing be held in the village itself.
