PANJIM: Aam Aadmi Party (AAP) has demanded the withdrawal of the controversial draft Coastal Zone Management Plan (CZMP) which the government has placed in public domain for suggestions and objections.
AAP Goa convenor Elvis Gomes termed the CZMP as fraud and demanded that the voice of the people be heard. “The mindless exercise of the Environment Minister holding public hearings in different talukas against the will of the people is a wasteful exercise. The CZMP should be withdrawn forthwith as the procedure adopted was faulty,” he stated.
Stating that until the plan is redrawn there is no point in the consultation, Elvis said, “The public consultations at taluka level was a contradiction in itself as the CZMA (Coastal Zone Management Authority) has referred the objections and suggestions of the people to the NCSCM (National centre for Sustainable Coastal Management) in Chennai and until the plan was drawn afresh, there was no point in holding public consultation based on old plan which was rejected by the people.”
He further said that the presence of the Environment Minister during the public consultation may intimidate citizens from expressing their views.
AAP Goa general secretary Pradeep Padgaonkar criticised Environment Minister Nilesh Cabral for blaming NGOs for ‘misguiding people’. “Did the Minister not know that there were sarpanchas and panchas at the meeting in Pernem and with them nearly a 1000 people opposing the CZMP? Are they all NGOs? NGOs have awakened the consciousness of the people against the sinister designs of the Government. If not for the NGOs, people like you (Cabral) would have sold Goa long ago”, he accused.
