Hearing violated curfew order, says fishing body

Panaji: The hearing for the draft Coastal Zone Management Plan (CZMP) was organised in “a shoddy manner and violated its own NSA and curfew order”, said general secretary of the national fish workers’ forum (NFF), Olencio Simoes.
“The order clearly states that anyone violating it will be booked under the Code of Criminal Procedure. The South Goa collector will be solely responsible if any of the participants or speakers contract Covid-19 as social distancing norms were flouted,” he said.
Members of the Goa Coastal Zone Management Authority (GCZMA) and the South Goa collector failed to pay heed to the objections raised on the 15-minute restriction imposed, violating public hearing norms and EIA notification 2006 and procedure to conduct a public hearing, Simoes said.
“Only 50 speakers could speak from nearly thousands who had registered, which has violated the EIA notification 2006 and procedure to conduct a public hearing,” he said.
NFF has demanded that all objections received from fishermen’s organisations, panchayats and civil society should be incorporated in the final plan, failing which, it threatened to take GCZMA to task.
“The CRZ was established to protect and conserve coastal ecology and traditional dwellers and their livelihoods. Unfortunately, due to the delay in implementing a proper CZMP we have lost kilometers of coastline. We cannot afford to lose more.”