Team Herald
PANJIM: The National Centre for Sustainable Coastal Management (NCSCM) is likely to submit the final draft of Goa Coastal Zone Management Plan (CZMP) to the State government by mid-December.
The Chennai-based agency is currently in process of mapping the khazan lands and bund as per the CRZ notification.
The National Green Tribunal (NGT) has issued a final ultimatum to the State government by granting time till January 31, 2021 to complete the CZMP. The State had requested for a deadline of March 10, 2021, considering the long process it has to undertake to finalise the plan.
Sources informed that the NCSCM is still in process of completing the mapping of khazan land and bunds, as identified by the Water Resources Department (WRD) and Biodiversity Management Committees (BMC) as per CRZ notification, issued in May, which allowed the High Tide Line (HTL) in Goa to be demarcated along the bunds (embankments) along rivers and creeks.
“Following the notification, the fresh mapping process was initiated by WRD and BMC,” sources said.
The State government had on September 4, sent all the khazan land data, to NCSCM for mapping, since the shape files which were sent by the agency to the State earlier to conduct plotting and mapping did not contain the survey numbers.
“Now, the old mapping has to be deleted and new mapping will have to be noted. It is a time consuming process. Even a minor error could thwart the entire process,” sources said.
“However, we are expecting the final draft by mid-December, after which it will be kept open for public consultation. A virtual public hearing will also be undertaken,” sources said.
Along with the virtual hearing, a personal hearing to few would be granted.
The suggestions and objections of the people will be considered by GCZMA and would be recommended to the National Coastal Zone Management Authority for approval. The plan will then be reviewed and recommended to the Union Ministry for notification.
The first CZMP of Goa was prepared in 1996 and was used as base plan for 2011 CZMP. The NCSCM has been working on the plan since 2016.
