Team Goemkarponn
Panaji: The Bombay High Court at Goa ordered an immediate halt to the developments initiated with JCB excavators at the Morjim Turtle Nesting beach which had commenced on 24th July and had resulted in widespread unacceptable damage to the entire ancient sand dune bank of the beach.
A division bench comprising of Justice Ms Bharati Dangre & Justice Ms Nivedita P. Mehta passed the order after hearing a PIL filed by Captain Gerald Fernandes, a resident of Morjim, and the Goa Foundation. The petitioners were represented by Adv. Om D’Costa.
The citizens of Morjim have been anxiously following the developments in the media relating to proposed activities on Morjim beach, which is a turtle nesting site. The petitioners came to know that there was a proposal to commence a new project labelled a beach beautification project at the entrance to the beach areas. Except for a sandy walk way to the beach, the rest of the area is occupied by sand dunes and sand dune vegetation which are protected as CRZ IA by the CRZ Notification.
Despite these facts, the GCZMA entertained a proposal from the GTDC to install a Rs.9 crore beach beautification project using cement concrete at the entrance which required the demolition of the entire sand dune bank, blindly accepting the claim of the GTDC that the constructions were “temporary.” Without obtaining any permission from the Town Planning or any construction license from the panchayat, and acting purely on the basis of NOC from the GCZMA and the panchayat, the GTDC contractors brought two JCBs at the site and created havoc on the sand dune system over the last 3-4 days.
The GTDC action generated anger and rage over the entire state of Goa.
The PIL was therefore filed urgently on Monday afternoon and the court agreed to take it up this morning when petitioners produced latest photographs of activities of beach destruction taking place on 28th July. From the photographs it was clear that upto 2 metres of sand dune had been excavated and all the sand dune vegetation including trees completely uprooted.
There was not a single person of any authority from either the department of Environment, GCZMA or GTDC at the site.
The court has now adjourned the matter to the 8th August after obtaining an assurance from the state’s advocate general that all work at the site will be forthwith suspended till further orders.
