Team Herald
PANJIM: Partial destruction of the beach shacks due to the ingress of sea water onto the beaches on Sunday, coupled with a full moon and the affect of cyclone Ockhi, has brought to the fore blatant Coastal Regulation Zone (CRZ) violations by some shack operators. Shack owners have, however, countered the allegation blaming Goa Coastal Zone Management Authority (GCZMA) for not allocating areas for shacks above the high tide line.
Former NIO Scientist Dr Antonio Mascarenhas alleged that violation of CRZ rules and other related guidelines have resulted in the crisis. “We have been discussing repeatedly but nobody seems to be learning from the consequences. There is a clear cut guideline from the erstwhile GCZMA that the rear portion of the shack should be located on the dry beach, minimum three meters away from the dune-line, but once the shack operators are granted the NOC, these structures are extended into the dune. The CRZ and other relevant rules are violated,” he alleged.
Travel and Tourism Association of Goa (TTAG) has echoed the same view demanding scientific positioning of the shacks taking into consideration sand dunes, water tide and other factors. “Some beaches are narrow and some are wide. There should be some space between the shacks and the beaches, in case of emergencies. The positioning of the shacks should be carried out scientifically, but the fact remains that it has become a random process. It is this violation that results in flooding of the shacks,” TTAG President Savio Messias said, while terming the incident as ‘unfortunate’.
The incident has also exposed how the authorities have been lax in implementing the beach carrying capacity report, where it is learnt, certain areas were marked as ‘no-go areas’. “There are a pack of shacks in the no-go areas, which are identified in the draft report of the Chennai based institute,” Mascarenhas said, conceding that he is yet to go through the final report.
Messias sought that the government determine the total number of shacks depending on the space available on the beaches and its carrying capacity. “Shacks should just not be allotted to suit the operators,” he added.
The scientist also explains that during the monsoon, when the winds blow from the west, beaches see annual erosion of sand. It is from September to January that the beaches get replenished as the direction of the wind changes from North to South. But, Mascarenhas alleged the process is not allowed to be carried out naturally owing to haphazard positioning of the beach shacks. “There is human interference that halts the natural coastal processes that replenish the beach – dune systems,” he stated.
President of Shack Owners’ Welfare Society Cruz Cardozo shot back at the allegations that shack operators violated the laws claiming they had specifically requested GCZMA not to allot the shacks near the high tide line but fearing it would damage the sand dunes, the authorities allotted the structures close to the shores.
“We had specifically mentioned that sand dunes will not be touched as the structures are elevated on a platform. If the shacks were little upwards, the devastation could have been avoided by at least 50 percent. Some shacks have been washed off, like in Keri,” Cardozo said.
The shack operators, he said, will now demand compensation from the State government as the damages are ‘not because of our fault’. The total loss is still being estimated, Cardozo further said.
