The National Green Tribunal or board has, however, no plans to study the carrying capacity of hotels in the state, which are springing up at every corner near the coast and which pose more threats without a centralized sewage system.
The decision comes two months after the NGT directed the Goa Coastal Zone Management Authority (GCZMA) to carry out such a study to protect the coastal environment based on the “precautionary principle”.
The GSPCB during its board meeting, on Thursday, resolved to ask NIO to study the carrying capacity of beaches along the coastal belt for allocating shacks and their impact on environment, sewage and solid waste management. The crucial decision comes after observation that majority of the shacks release sewage into the sand through pipelines.
NIO would be given a year’s time to complete the study, which would help the board to rethink on granting Consent to Operate to these temporary structures. GSPCB is the regulatory body to regulate the air and water pollution by these shacks.
Addressing media persons after the meeting, GSPCB chairman Jose Manuel Noronha said that the meeting has resolved to ask NIO to conduct the study, with major focus on major beaches.
The Tourism Department granted permission to 370 shacks during the ongoing tourism season.
Noronha said that the meeting also discussed complaints received from locals about nuisance caused by shack toilets, wherein the board had directed shack operators to construct holding tanks. However, the GCZMA raised objection to this as they found that holding tanks were constructed by destroying sand dunes, he said.
As such, the board has resolved that the Tourism department should construct a common toilet facility for a group of 10 to 15 shacks on payment basis. Noronha said that the board was informed about the Tourism Department plans to have chemical toilet facilities for shacks.
