PANJIM: Shacks erected along the beach belt have come under the scanner of three different authorities – Tourism Department, Goa Coastal Zone Management Authority (GCZMA) and Goa State Pollution Control Board (GSPCB) – who are undertaking joint inspections to monitor violations before granting the required permissions for operation.
For the current season, Tourism department has allotted nearly 400 shacks along the entire coastline. The shacks have already come up and the inspection that began earlier this week will conclude on Saturday.
Tourism department is ascertaining whether the shacks have been erected within the allotted dimensions and the distance from the beach area.
On the other hand, GCZMA inspected the beach belts to ensure there are no violations of coastal regulation zone (CRZ) rules and to check whether the temporary structures are built on sand dunes. “Following the inspection by the expert committee members, GCZMA permission would be granted for operation,” sources said.
Speaking to Herald, GSPCB chairman Jose Manuel Noronha said the board has to grant Consent to Operate under the Air and Water Pollution Acts. “We are verifying whether the directions given to tackle the waste released from the toilets by installing holding tanks to avoid water and air pollution, are followed,” he said.
GSPCB at its meeting in March, had resolved to decide to ask the National Institute of Oceanography to carry out a study to assess the carrying capacity of different beaches for allotting shacks and to ascertain its impact on the environment.
