The state government is expecting to receive the draft coastal zone management plan (CZMP) from the National Centre for Sustainable Coastal Management (NCSCM), Chennai, this week, environment minister Nilesh Cabral said on Sunday.
Speaking to TOI, Cabral said that, if everything goes right, then the CZMP 2011 will be uploaded on the environment ministry’s website somewhere between January 16 and 18 for public consultation. “The National Green Tribunal (NGT), has given us a deadline of January 31 to complete the plan, but we are preparing a final plan by February end and it will be submitted to the ministry of environment, forest and climate change (MoEFCC) for final notification,” he said.
Cabral said that once the plan is uploaded, people can submit their objections and suggestions and that if the realistic ones will be incorporated in the final CZMP. “Given the pandemic, we cannot hold public consultations. The CZMP presentation will be uploaded on the website for people’s viewing,” Cabral said. Once the CZMP 2011 is notified, the state government will start work on preparing CZMP 2019, he said. Earlier, the state had filed an application seeking time till March 10, 2021, to complete the plan, stating that the Covid-19 pandemic had affected work on the plan.
The application had stated that, in the meanwhile, it has been ensured that no violations occur in coastal regulation zone (CRZ) areas and that necessary directions are issued from time to time in terms of Section 5 of the Environment Protection Act, 1985. Goa submitted that no approval is being granted for any development in coastal areas till the CZMP is finalised and clarified that the delay in finalising the plan is not deliberate. The government had said that local bodies had expressed their desire to know the contents of the CZMP and hence field visits were organised through the officials of the Directorate of Settlement and Land Records in North and South Goa to explain to each and every local body as to what is a CZMP and what features should be incorporated in the plan as per the provisions of CRZ Notification 2011.
The state government said that all of the local bodies prepared their own CZMP and the same were forwarded to NCSCM. The NGT, has given us a deadline of January 31 to complete the plan, but we are preparing a final plan by February end and it will be submitted to the ministry of environment, forest and climate change for final notification