Margao: Villagers from Orlim on Sunday strongly objected to the draft Coastal Zone Management Plan (CZMP) for their village saying there are many discrepancies including the marking of port limits and other ecologically sensitive areas in the village.
They also submitted over 1,200 written letters to the panchayat, listing their objections to be sent to the concerned government authorities.
On Sunday, several villagers, along with an especially formed village draft CZMP committee, gathered at the Orlim panchayat to raise their objections to the draft CZMP. They said the plan drafted by the village panchayat, which was prepared and sent to the government in 2019 has not been incorporated in the draft CZMP. The panchayat, on its part, has said it would take the people’s objections into consideration and send the same to the concerned government authorities.
“Today, the villagers have strongly objected to the draft CZMP with their main concern being the marking of the port limits. There are other problems like many sluice gates not mentioned in the plan, the village church and some private property shown as khazan land and the hazard line is shown inside the village. On the map we had prepared and sent, we had incorporated the survey numbers of the area around the river bank and shown five sluice gates, but none of the survey numbers is seen in the draft CZMP, while only three of the five sluice gates are shown,” said village sarpanch Tamica D’Silva.
She further said, “We have received over 1,200 objections that were sent by the villagers. We will go through all of them and send a letter to the Goa Coastal Zone Management Authority (GCZMA) listing all the people’s objections.”
Orlim, unlike its neighbouring villages, does not have a coastline, but has the River Sal flowing through the village. During the meeting, villagers expressed worry over the marking of the port limits saying if the plan is to be cleared, any development in port limits marked area would require the central government permissions.
“We will have to go ahead with a collective approach with other villages and create a huge public outcry against what is being done on the draft CZMP. The village had taken up the task of marking everything on the plan we had prepared but that does not feature at all in this draft CZMP,” said a villager during the meeting.