Goa Oppn wants hearing on Coastal plan postponed

The Opposition and environment groups in Goa have opposed provisions in the draft Coastal Zone Management plan and have demanded the postponement of the public consultation meeting scheduled on July 7, accusing the state government of hurrying through the processes.

Goa's green NGOs, who earlier on Wednesday met the director of the state environment department, to express their opposition to the draft plan, also said, that the document was full of flaws and was aimed at facilitating exploitation of the coastline by real estate hospitality industry lobbies, which until now was difficult under the current Coastal Regulation Zone (CRZ) norms.

"The draft plan should be first explained at the village level, especially every coastal village, where the changes are likely to impact people the most. For this, the date of the consultative meeting will have to be postponed," Congress legislative party spokesperson Aleixo Reginaldo told DH.

He also said that the issue would be discussed threadbare in the upcoming monsoon session of the Goa Legislative Assembly.

The Aam Aadmi Party in Goa has also opposed the draft plan.

Rampant concretisation of Goa, especially state's coastal areas which are hubs of tourism-related businesses, by the real estate and hospitality industry, have been a cause for worry, especially for Goa's green brigade.

Recently, the Goa State Coastal Management Authority, which regulates development in the CRZ areas, ordered the demolition of more than 100 structures, which had cropped up perilously close to multiple habitats of the endangered Olive Ridley turtles, along Goa's coastline which stretches for around 102 km.

This coastline, according to Goa's environmentalists is under threat, thanks to the provisions in the new draft plan.

“They are supposed to mark the high tide line (HTL) at the highest point where the waves reach on the beach on the plan. Now in the entire state, they have marked the HTL, as per who is in the ruling party. In many places the HTL varies by around 15-20 metre to benefit some parties," noted environmentalist Claude Alvares, who was one of the green activists who attended Wednesday's meeting with the director of the environment told reporters.

Alvares, who heads the Goa Foundation, one of the top green NGOs in the state, also said, that the state government does not even have authorised maps of the 1996 Coastal Zone Management plan for Goa, so there was no way possible for people to look for comparisons and changes made to the current draft plan which has been prepared by the National Centre for Sustainable Coastal Management.

"The current exercise is illegal because the government does not even have maps of the past plan. How can we make a comparative analysis in absence of any information," Alvares said.