Almost a year after Goa’s Coastal Zone Management Plan (CZMP) 2011 was notified, the three crucial sub plans — Fishermen Community Plan, Khazan Land Management Plan and Mangroves Management Plan — which were supposed to be incorporated as part of the CZMP are yet to be approved by the State government thus keeping some of the key recommendations including allowing fisherman to construct and reconstruct dwelling units within 100-200 meters of High Tide Line (HTL) on backburner. With the government in process of drafting CZMP 2019, these sub-plans will also have to be updated as per CRZ 2019 notification.
Highly placed sources informed that except for Sea Turtle Nesting and Habitat Management Plan, none of plans pertaining to Khazan, Mangroves and Fishermen wards are approved by the government and hence they are not incorporated in CZMP 2011. Director Environment IAS Sneha Gitte remained unavailable for comments. During the recently concluded monsoon session of the legislative assembly, Environment Minister Nilesh Cabral, in a written reply had admitted that these plans have not been approved without citing any specific reasons.
The Fisherman Community Plan speaks about regularization of dwelling units constructed or permissible under CRZ 1991 notification on a case-to-case basis. It also permits construction and reconstruction of dwelling units of traditional coastal communities between 100-200 meters of HTL. The plan that has identified 186 fishing wards falling within or adjacent with CRZ areas, speaks about permitting foreshore facilities for fishing and allied activities along the protected zones.
The Mangrove Management Plan has highlighted lack of legislation to act against those involved in illegal felling of mangroves on government land. According to the plan, 90 percent of Goa’s Mangroves are in government land and has no legal protection except under Forest (Conservation) Act 1980, which empowers forest department to protect mangroves in forest areas.
Most of the mangroves on the government land are under threat from government agencies as well as private developers and in case of illegal land felling, neither forest department nor police have powers to book or arrest the offenders. The plan, drafted by the experts, recommended that the State should bring about a new Legislation to effectively provide protection to mangroves in government land.
As far as Khazan Land Management Plan is concerned, it has proposed that Khazan ecosystem, established around 3000 years back by our ancestors, should be recommended for UNESCO World Heritage site tagging. The plan had strongly recommended to the State government to take up the issue of ‘heritage eco-system’ for consideration with UNESCO. The committee had also recommended eco-tourism activities in the Khazan land as “out-of-box” ideas to generate additional income. The experts had observed that no statistical data is available with respect to the present status of khazan land ecosystems in the State and hence there is need for detailed survey.