Plan devoid of villagers’ suggestions, claim speakers
Panaji: The fresh public hearing on the draft Coastal Zone Management Plan conducted at parade ground at Campal in Panaji on Thursday for North Goa was once again marred by chaos with members of the public present at the venue claiming that the environment department has failed to incorporate the modifications in the draft CZMP as suggested in the plans prepared by the coastal panchayats.
The previous public hearings on the draft CZMP were held on March 7.
Activists, politicians, members of the fishermen community, sarpanchas, members of civil society and the affected villagers highlighted their concerns once again and demanded proper ground-truthing exercise in every village to identify and map the ecologically sensitive coastal wetlands, water bodies, coastal regulatory zone (CRZ) lines, heritage sites, bird sanctuary, which, they said, have been “suspiciously” omitted or ignored while preparing the draft CZMP.
They said the maps have failed to incorporate important features like land use of local fishing communities, hazard lines, fishing zones and fish breeding areas and identification of violations as well as legal and illegal structures.
“Water bodies, traditional bundhs, sluice gates and fishermen’s houses in St Estevam have been either wrongly shown or not shown in the draft plan. Fishing zones and khazan lands have been marked based on inadequate data available with the fisheries and water resource departments,” said Mateus Saldanha from St Estevam.
Out of the 96 pre-registered participants, only 31 individuals put forth their views, virtually and by being physically present, during the hearing until 7.30 pm. Later, names of 67 participants, who registered on the spot were called out and their suggestions and objections recorded till late night. The hearing was held non-stop without any break for refreshments.
A senior officer from the environment department informed this daily that the plan is at the pre-draft stage. “We will address each and every objection received, both written and oral. We will have rounds of discussions with authorities and exhaustive ground-truthing soon after the completion of the public hearing and incorporate the suggestions while drafting the plan,” he said.
A participant from Terekhol, Clifford D’Souza, said, “NCSCM has erroneously shown his property measuring 40,000 sq mt as mangrove protected area without examining the fact that salt water has entered into his property due to damaged and unrepaired bundhs resulting in growth of mangroves.”
“The mapping carried out by NCSCM seems to be from Google Maps. We here raise the issue of authenticity of the map. Many areas have been deleted from the map. Despite providing self-prepared plans worked out with thorough ground-truthing in 2019, they have not been incorporated in the plan,” said Anand Gad from Bicholim.
The National Centre for Sustainable Coastal Management (NCSCM), the Chennai-based agency, which has been authorised by the Centre to prepare the maps, did not face the public at the hearing and also did not respond to the concerns raised by the participants which raised doubts in the minds of the participants on the authenticity of the draft CZMP that has been prepared.
A young architect Tahin Noronha from Neura said it was shocking to see that not even five per cent of the 422 archaeological and heritage sites that exist in the state are included in the draft plan with no preparation of heritage site management plan and its conservation.
Speakers from Candolim argued on the issue of the Sinquerim hilltop biodiversity not being demarcated and the Aguada Fort wall not being considered on the map. They also displayed pictures of the Aguada Jail before it was taken up for beautification by cutting a hill in violation of the CRZ Notification 2011 and after the work carried out.
Appearing virtually, Talula D’Silva said mangrove mapping and their varieties along the St Inez creek, Rua de Ourem creek and Mala lake are not marked in the draft CZMP.
There has been widespread condemnation across the state ever since the department of environment has for a second time conducted public hearing in the last two years and failed to address the critical questions raised by villagers with regard to the draft CZMP while also failing to incorporate modifications suggested in the village-level plans.