PANJIM: Goa Coastal Zone Management Authority (GCZMA) on Saturday reiterated that depiction of port limits from the draft Coastal Zone Management Plan (CZMP) has been dropped. This had been decided at the 254th meeting, with several others, which were based on the objections and suggestions received from the people.
GCZMA that has been receiving various interventions seeking that the port limits be dropped, and so clarified that this has already been dropped.
If you enjoyed reading this article, you can help support our journalism by adding OHeraldo as a preferred source.
Goa Foundation, however, pointed out that these decisions have not been notified as yet and emphasised that the four principal issues, which were decided by the resolutions include no depiction of any structures within CRZ; removal of port limits from CZMPS; status of mangroves in khazans; and buffer zones for khazans.
“If these GCZMA decisions are placed in public domain, persons who are proposing to attend the public hearing to represent solely on the basis of each or all of these concerns may not require to be heard in the first place, since their protests have already resulted in a decision by the GCZMA accepting their representation,” GF Director Claude Alvares added.
Over the last two weeks, like-minded groups and individuals led by GF have held meetings with GCZMA ahead of the upcoming district public hearings to finalise the CZMP.
On Saturday, 72 such individuals representing various parts of Goa, at a hearing before GCZMA that was facilitated by GF, made power-point presentations that covered their objections and suggestions on the draft CZMP. The written submissions are what these individuals would have wanted to convey at the public hearings.
This meeting was subsequent to a meeting that GF Director Claude Alvares, Goencho Avaaz vice-president Roshan Mathias and another concerned citizen had with GCZMA chairman Kunal last month. At this meeting, they gave their suggestions to the public hearings related to the July 8 CZMP public hearings, which was also in connection to the review application filed by GF before the National Green Tribunal (NGT).
In this meeting they expressed their concern that the public hearing, as is proposed, is not suitable to receiving inputs from professional groups like them. They further referred to the procedure for receipt of comments/objections from the public that allows written submissions in addition to the public hearing.
They then they pointed out the notice of public hearing stipulates that speakers will be given a maximum of 15 minutes to make their points. “We object to this. The time limit fixed has no legal basis,” Alvares said.
They also pointed out that the notice proposes no time limit on the hearing itself and said this could mean that from the commencement of the hearing, it could continue not just for the entire day but till the next morning even, on the assumption that the hearing will continue till it is completed.
“We do not know how many days this will go on. It is a wholly impractical idea and should be shelved,” Alvares said.
They then proposed to submit their comments/objections on the draft CZMP in writing at the GCZMA office and that they are allowed to orally explain these submissions to the GCZMA members.
“If this is possible with the GCZMA, then groups like ours may not even participate in the public hearing since we do not find the conditions for the participation attractive or reasonable,” Alvares said.
They pointed out that different groups of persons/professionals will handle the written submissions and oral clarifications. They had suggested that a separate time be allocated for each of these issues for raising concerns, pointing out errors, correction of errors before the next issue is taken up.
Alvares expressed GF’s willingness to organise these discussions on behalf of the professional groups and added that the issues would be on an all-Goa basis and not district basis.
They had also proposed that all the presentations dealing with village level CZMPs should be held taluka-wise, such that all persons interested in a specific CZMP of a particular taluka would be heard together. They felt this would improve the overall efficiency of the process and save considerable time of the panel hearing these issues.
