Team Herald
MARGAO: Rejecting the Coastal Zone Management Plans (CZMPs), six villages in Salcete at their extraordinary gram sabhas held on Sunday demanded that the plans be discussed thoroughly with the panchayats and locals, preferably at a gram sabha.
They further demanded that the fresh plans be prepared either by the NIO or Goa University.
In most villages, Rainbow Warriors via a presentation on the CZMPs claimed that they have been arbitrarily prepared by some officials sitting in Chennai as the firm namely National Centre for Sustainable Coastal Management (NCSCM), which prepared the plans, is based in Chennai.
In all the six villages it was pointed out that the High Tide Line (HTL) from the rivers in particular is shown way beyond what is stipulated in the Coastal Regulation Zone Notification. While the CRZ states that the HTL should be half the width of the river or 100 mts, the CZMP shows the HTL at places to be even 300 mts from the river bank.
Objecting to the mangroves shown in fields, the villagers argued that the fields, which were not cultivated, there would have been some wild growth and added that the same does not necessitate them being marked as mangroves as in future nobody would be able to cultivate the field marked as mangroves.
They said an ecological heritage has been created by their forefathers through the sluice gates that formed khazans, which are used to breed fish and for agriculture and called for preserving and protecting these khazans.
Claiming that the locals including the panchayat have not been consulted while preparing the plans, the villagers demanded that the plans be redrafted either by the NIO or the Goa University in consultation with the local bodies including tenants’ association and fishermen.
The villages would send their objections to the member secretary of Goa Coastal Zone Management Authority (GCZMA) by July 5 with copies marked to the Chief Minister and Environment Minister besides the South Goa Collector.
At Carmona, the villagers objected to the plans showing the village boundaries. In the first place, they objected to the fact that the Arabian Sea was not shown as the western boundary of the village. They opposed to the total deletion of River Sal from the village jurisdiction.
The survey plans and even the Regional Plan show half of River Sal to be within the Carmona jurisdiction with the locals demanding the CZMP to follow suit.
The panchayat was asked to publicise the meeting when the CZMP would be discussed fresh.
At Chinchinim, the locals feared that five wards would be adversely affected as the HTL is shown where houses exist as the base plan used was the Survey Plan of 1974. Since then several houses have been constructed even before the promulgation of the CRZ notification.
The sluice gates and fishing areas in the village are not shown in the map and the worst affected areas are Durga both Grande and Pequeno along with Toleaband, Deussua, Cudeawado and Sucaldem.
At Betalbatim, the villagers claimed that the fishing areas were not shown in the map at all and no beach shacks were mentioned.
