Team Herald
PANJIM: As the deadline to accept plans and recommendations from village panchayats and individuals with regards to draft coastal zone management plan (CZMP) ended on Monday, Minister for Environment Nilesh Cabral said that only 36 out of 191 panchayats have submitted their plan.
National Green Tribunal (NGT) in its order passed last month, has granted time up to November 15 to the State to finalise and submit the CZMP plan to the Union Ministry of Environment, Forest and Climate Change (MoEF&CC), failing which it had warned of coercive action against the officers concerned.
Speaking to media persons on Thursday, Cabral said that the deadline for submission of the plan and suggestions already ended and that they are not going to accept it further. “Only 36 panchayats have submitted their plan, which we have sent to the Chennai based National Centre for Sustainable Coastal Management (NCSCM) for correction in the draft plan,” he said.
Responding to a question for lukewarm response from panchayats, Minister said “We did enough of sensitization…we cannot force the panchayats that are sleeping,” he said adding that the Coastal Zone Management Authority (CZMA) and Environment Department had provided all the help sought by the panchayats.
“NCSCM will study the plans and recommendations given by the people and inform us accordingly as what is acceptable as per CRZ notification 2011. NCSCM will accordingly prepare the plan and put it up before public for hearing,” Cabral said.
He said that GCZM will hold public hearings on the draft plan in the next few days. “We intend to complete the plan before the NGT deadline of November 15,” he added.
Goa is apparently the only State in the country left to finalise its CZMP.
