Team Herald
PANJIM: The National Green Tribunal (NGT) on Thursday admitted an application filed by three villagers of Cortalim – Lopinho Xavier, Sebastian Serrao and Caitan D’Silva – seeking rehabilitation of their natural environment in the face of large scale damage to khazans, sluice gates, mangroves, bunds and trees allegedly done by a firm in the area. The tribunal has fixed August 9 for completion of pleadings in the matter.
The three villagers have pleaded that directions be issued to take steps to undo the damage done to the khazan system and rehabilitate the khazan and the surrounding mangrove area to its original status, under the supervision of Goa Coastal Zone Management Authority (GCZMA) and Goa State Biodiversity Board (GSBB), and both the authorities have been asked to file a compliance report.
The villagers have also pleaded for an order imposing severe pecuniary sanctions for the blatant disregard and violation of the law and orders of the Coastal and Biodiversity Authorities and asking GCZMA and GSBB to declare and notify the area as a Biodiversity Heritage Site.
As interim relief, the applicants have asked for directions to GCZMA and GSBB to provide restoration blueprint required to be followed by the respondent company.
The applicants have annexed inspection reports of GSBB and GCZMA declaring the area as protected under the CRZ notification, since the entire area is in CRZ and both khazans and mangroves cannot be touched due to stringent provisions of the CRZ notification but the firm has done considerable damage to the khazan land including the mangroves.
