The Goa State Pollution Control Board decided to finally drop its plan to conduct an aerial survey and mapping of the North Goa coastal belt, citing Environment Minister Aleixo Sequeira’s statement during the recently concluded monsoon Legislative Assembly that GSPCB will not proceed with the proposal.
The board in its earlier meeting on January 9 had announced plans for the survey and mapping with a primary purpose of monitoring and regulating tourism activities along the North Goa coast which has been the hub of activity. The survey cum mapping was planned as per the National Geospatial Policy 2022, with the aim of demarcating structures like hotels, shacks, buildings, houses, parks, open plots and other tourism-related activity zones. The board had maintained that the survey was needed for better management of coastal resources and their conservation.
Leave aside the larger benefits of following the National Geospatial Policy 2022, there were significant takeaways for the State in that exercise, especially the coastal belt which has been rampantly exploited in the name of tourism overriding all other concerns of the environment and coastal eco-system. The survey would not only help in better planning and development of the coastal areas but would have also gone a long way in supporting the much-debated concept of sustainable tourism.
The North Goa coast has been consistently in the news for the wrong reasons — from illegal structures mushrooming to over-exploitation. Sadly, the High Court has to repeatedly intervene and question the failure of authorities like GSPCB and even the local bodies who are believed to be guardians of those villages. We have seen the court coming hard at authorities and setting timelines for the demolition of multi-storey hotels for violating No Development Zones and sealing over a hundred establishments for operating illegally. Last year, the Goa Coastal Zone Management Authority identified 275 illegal constructions in Anjuna alone, besides 47 toilets and 18 illegal borewells. The ground situation is appalling and it is only getting worse.
Amid such chaos, and especially when there is so much noise about noise pollution, the GSPCB survey and mapping would have been a perfect foil to the brazen illegalities because the government would have been equipped with data and area management would have been a breeze.
Retracting from the survey exercise could only mean that the GSPCB is not ready to run the risk because it considers that through this exercise the job of the government would be even more difficult in tackling more illegalities and discrepancies. The probability of the survey giving graphic details of the increasing encroachments and illegalities is surely going to paint an ugly picture, a picture of lawlessness that will expose the chinks in the system.
The decision to withdraw from this exercise is a calculated one and appears to be taken to protect the high and mighty. Interestingly, the Environment Minister has not come out clear on the reasoning behind cancelling the survey exercise and no clarification has come forth on the decision. However, whichever way one looks at the issue, withdrawing the aerial survey is certainly not in the interest of coastal Goa.
