Team Herald
MARGAO: Terming the draft CRZ 2018 notification as “mala fide” and “anti-people”, Curtorim MLA Aleixo Reginaldo Lourenco has called upon the Chief Minister Manohar Parrikar to appeal to the Centre to scrap it immediately.
In a letter, Reginaldo reminded Parrikar that Goa is a special and distinctive State of India as it has the smallest coastline of 105 km and a land mass of 3,704 sq km.
“It is an ecologically sensitive area and needs to be protected by controlling and guarding against unscrupulous exploitation, for the long-term benefit of human beings. This must be done by protecting and maintaining the ecological balance of the area”, he stated in the letter.
The notification is against the interest of the people, ecology, fishermen and tourism, the MLA alleged and added the State government should heed to the voice of Goenkars against the notification.
He claimed that the real estate lobby has encroached upon the forest areas and now they want to enter the CRZ. He said, “We will not allow them to reduce the CRZ area up to 50 metres from the High Tide Line (HTL).”
He reiterated that the notification will affect 80,000 local fishermen and that there is a growing opposition from political parties, NGOs, fishermen and citizens, who have come together under a single banner to protest the notification.
