Says plan notification on 1:4000 scale crucial
PANAJI
The controversial issue of finalising Coastal Zone Management Plans (CZMPs) triggered animated discussion in the House on Wednesday as legislators from Opposition benches targeted the Chennai-based National Centre for Sustainable Coastal Management for a shoddy job, especially mapping of sand dunes along Goa’s 105-km long coastline.
Environment Minister Nilesh Cabral, while indicating that the sand dunes will be surveyed again, said that the issue of notifying the final CZMPs is currently pending with the National Coastal Zone Management Authority (NCZMA) which is seized with the State government’s demands to refrain from marking port limits and existing structures on the plan.
Cabral also said, that the State has also insisted that the CZMPs for Goa follow the more precise 1:4000 rather than the 1:25000 scale. The 1:4000 scale will be more accurate and precise, he added.
The minister was responding to the calling attention motion raising concerns of several sections of coastal communities to the vast amount of sand dunes mapped on the draft plans awaiting finalisation and also several discrepancies in mapping.
MLAs Vijai Sardesai, Aleixo Sequeira, Carlos Alvares Ferreira, Yuri Alemao, Sankalp Amonkar, Altone D’Costa, Viresh Borkar, Cruz Silva and Venzy Viegas had moved the motion.
Sardesai said, there is nearly 50% discrepancy in the total coverage of sand dunes mapped by the Chennai based agency and what has been surveyed by the expert committee of the Goa Coastal Zone Management Authority (GCZMA).
Sardesai also alleged that sand dunes were excessively marked along the South Goa coast and were negligible in North Goa.
“Fisherman and other coastal communities will be in a fix. Even small huts and structures of theirs will become illegal,” Sardesai said.
Responding to Sardesai’s charge Cabral said, the survey of sand dunes will be redone and submitted to the NCSCM.
In his response to the calling attention motion, Cabral said the NCZMA had given an in-principle concurrence on three major issues raised by the State: eliminating port limits, avoiding showing structures on the plans and notifying the the final plans on the basis of the 1:4000 scale and not the 1:25000 sale.
According to Cabral, the shape file of the CZMP is prepared by NCSCM but has not been shared with the GCZMA. The draft CZMP-2011 was modified by NCSCM after the exercise of ground-truthing objections and suggestions through the marathon public hearings.
He said, other than heritage structures identified by the Archives and Fisheries Department, no other structures will be marked on the final plans.
Structures like lighthouses, beacons and fisheries infrastructure including RND jetties are the structures which will be depicted in the CZMPs.
The issue of finalising the CZMPs based on the CRZ-2011 Notification, has been hanging fire for the last three years with widespread angst demonstrated by green groups and local communities who have alleged a shoddy job by the Chennai agency and government authorities.
Earlier this year in April, the NGT bench headed by Chairperson Adarsh Kumar Goel, had observed that CZMPs of all other coastal States except Goa have been approved under the provisions of the CRZ Notification, 2011.
The NGT bench also noted that the CZMPs 2019 had not been finalised and approved for 11 States and Union Territories, including Goa despite the CRZ Notification having been issued in January 2019.
NCSCM comes under fire, demand to change agency
PANAJI: The NCSCM came under fire in the Goa legislative assembly with lawmakers questioning its work and even demanding that the State government drop the Chennai agency and take on board some other organisation.
The demand to chuck the agency was voiced by Benaulim MLA Venzy Viegas which Aldona MLA Carlos Ferreira Alvares questioned why the government was paying the agency despite it having produced an error-ridden draft CZMP.
Fatorda MLA, Vijai Sardesai, also cast aspersions on the agency saying it had tweaked its sand dune mapping multiple times and question why was it done.
The Environment Minister Nilesh Cabral however said the NCSCM was one of the seven scientific agencies authorised to do the work and the State government had initially opted for the NIO, Goa.
“However for some reason the NIO, Goa did not do the work,” Cabral said, adding that it was then that the Chennai agency was taken on board.
He also said that only a part of the contracted amount had been disbursed and the balance payment will be done only after notification of the final plan.
