GCZMA to charge fee to certify if property falls in CRZ

Panaji: The Goa Coastal Zone Management Authority(GCZMA) plans to charge a processing fee to certify whether a property comes under the CRZ law.
With the number of applications increasing, the GCZMA, at its recent meeting, felt it would be reasonable to levy processing fees for applications for ‘delineation of property’, which is the process of identifying whether it falls within or outside the CRZ jurisdiction as per CRZ notification 2011.
“The authority noted that for any application wherein the property/properties of applicants falls within and outside CRZ jurisdiction, the GCZMA’s technical team verifies the status of properties and it issues a certificate,” the GCZMA said at its meeting last month. “Hence, it is fair to charge fees for the process of delineation,” the GCZMA said.
It also discussed that as the matter pertains to CRZ, the GCZMA should be the competent authority to levy the processing fees for such applications.
A prime objective of the CRZ law is to conserve and protect coastal stretches and to promote development in a sustainable manner based on scientific principles, taking into account natural hazards and sea-level rise.