Team Herald
PANJIM: Ruling out village-level public hearings on the Coastal Zone Management Plan (CZMP), Environment Minister Nilesh Cabral said that all written submission by individuals and others will be scrutinised by Goa Coastal Zone and Management Authority (GCZMA) and only technical errors will be rectified.
Speaking exclusively to Herald, Cabral said, “GCZMA has so far received 1800-2000 applications/concerns from individuals and others. The last date to submit applications to the GCZMA office is March 15. All these applications will be thoroughly scrutinised and only technical errors within the purview of the law will be rectified and draft CZMP will be sent back to the National Centre for Sustainable Coastal Management (NCSCM) to incorporate them in the CZMP within the parameters of CRZ Notification 2011.”
Claiming that NCSCM has incorporated village plans found technically correct, Cabral said, “Now since the CZMP is going forward we will tell NCSCM to examine every village plan and tell why it is not possible to consider them.”
“We cannot hold public hearings at village level because the CRZ Notification clearly states that public consultations on CZMP should be held at the district-level. Two years back I created awareness taluka-wise on CZMP for the information of the people,” he said adding, “Most of the people say that they do not want the plan. How can they say that when it is a law across the country? There is no excuse.”
Stating that GCZMA and National Green Tribunal (NGT) are monitoring the draft CZMP, Cabral denied allegations that the CZMP maps were sent late to most of the village panchayats. He claimed that the CZMP maps were uploaded on the GCZMA website and were also sent to village panchayats.
Cabral further denied that the Chennai-based agency NCSCM had prepared the plan by using Google research and not by ground research. “NCSCM was provided with all documentation including photographs and secondly it has prepared CZMPs of most of the States in the country.”
Referring to the apprehensions in the minds of the villagers about fishing villages and fishing wards as mentioned in the CZMP, Cabral said that the government had already constituted a committee under the Fisheries Director to finalise the fishermen’s plan. However, the Minister opined that the entire village cannot be a fishing village.
Referring to extension of legend of “Port limits” in Zuari river, Cabral said, “We have two ports in Goa – Mormugao and Panjim. I have already written to GCZMA to seek clarity from the NCSCM and to find out which port they are their referring to.”
According to Cabral, ports jurisdiction was existing as per the Ports Act, 1970 and that no area has been extended now.
Cabral further said that for a new activity, any other activity will be displaced and that will be a small area and not the entire area. Barges and casinos are also displacing people and such small areas will not disturb the entire fishing activity.
Pointing to public hearings, he said that genuine participants were deprived from expressing their views/concerns. “They were threatened not to speak. There has to be constructive opposition and the government will not do things which are not good for the State. CZMP is not in my hands now and it is monitored by the National Green Tribunal (NGT). We are here to sort out issues,” Cabral said.
Reacting to charges that the government had not given 60 days time as mandated, Cabral said that some activists are confusing the people. He clarified that the Environment Impact Assessment (EIA) hearing conducted by Goa State Pollution Control Board (GSPCB) requires 60 days and not for draft CZMP. Notification was for CZMP and once this plan is approved people will submit their applications and obtain EIA.
“We have now discussed reports and sent them to NCSCM to incorporate them. We are going ahead systematically. We do not want people of Goa to fall in trouble because of some political class and activists who do not know how to take movements to realistic conclusion by pointing out actual flaws in the plan and actual reasons to oppose,” Cabral remarked.
He alleged that the some politicians oppose for a purpose. “Each class has their own purpose and I don’t want to know it and people believe them. If we don’t approve the CZMP then it will be like the Karapurkar-Sawant committee report on forests and people will fall in trouble if NCSCM plan is finalised by NGT. We want to prepare a proper plan and submit it to the NCSCM. Our role is over but we want to finalise the plan as early as possible. Goa is the only State not to complete the process. People are suffering and we want to complete the process in the interest of the people and the State.
