Goenchea Ramponkarancho Ekvott (GRE) has slammed the Union Ministry of Environment and Forests for proposing to amend the CRZ laws concerning shacks. We wonder what logic was applied by the Central government while inserting this ghastly clause in the draft notification. How will the beach shacks withstand the monsoon, when rough waves and strong winds hit the beach? said Olencio Simoes, GRE joint secretary and National Fish workers’ Forum (NFF) secretary. He continued, The government hasn’t managed to curb CRZ violations throughout the coastal belt of India, and Goa in particular. The action rate of curbing CRZ violations is almost nil in India. This is an innovative way of misusing the law to give backdoor entry to more CRZ illegalities. GRE President Agnelo Rodrigues stated, that the government was burning the midnight oil to bring in the vicious Clause (iii) (a), but had not bothered to regularize the traditional dwellings of the fisher folks and tribal communities, even though the CRZ notification of 2011 clearly stated that the State government or Union territory CZMAs would primarily be responsible for enforcing and monitoring the notification through district-level committees, under the chairmanship of the District Magistrate and containing at least three representatives of local traditional coastal communities. He said the notification further stated that The dwelling units of the traditional coastal communities including fisher folks and tribals, as were permissible under the provisions of the CRZ notification, 1991, but which have not obtained formal approval from the authorities under the aforesaid notification, shall be considered by the respective union territory CZMAs and the dwelling units shall be regularized. He questioned the government’s rationale for wanting to implement the Clause (iii) (a) and stated, If the shack owners suddenly can’t sustain themselves, how is it that the number of licenses being issued keeps increasing year after year? He further said, The government can reduce the license fees and taxes on shacks to make them economically viable’, but the destruction of coastal ecology in the State is unacceptable and deplorable. We are not the only generation to walk this earth; we have to leave a sustainable society for future generations.
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