Major Ports Bill enforcement mean that state laws like Town and Country Planning Act, Goa Land Revenue Code, Panchayat and Municipal acts will not be enforceable in these areas.
Goemkarponn desk
VASCO: Mormugao Port Trust has now become Mormugao Port Authority. This enforcement of the Major Port Authorities act will lead to overlapping power over state government and create constitutional crises. Activists feel that such a draconian move will have its repercussions in coming times.
An official letter of Mormugao Port went viral on Friday on social media platforms which raised concern among the people of Mormugao taluka. The excerpts of the letter dated February 4, 2020, mention the subject of the letter to various authorities of the Mormugao Port as “Constitution of Board of Mormugao Port under the Major Port Authorities Act (MPA, 2021)”.
It further states that “lt is informed that Shri Rajiv Nayan, Under Secretary (PHRD), MoPS&W Vide email dated 28.01.2022 has forwarded the notification dated 28.01.2022
Issued by Shri Vikram Singh, Joint Secretary to the Govt. of India, MoPS&W, regarding the Board of Mormugao Port constitution under the Major Port Authorities Act, 2021 (Copy enclosed).
In pursuance of sub-section 1 of Section 3 of the Major Port Authorities Act, 2021, the Central Government has constituted a new Board of Major Port Authority for Mormugao Port. Hence, under the Major Port Trusts Act, 1963, the existing board ceased to exist from January 28, 2022.
The Mormugao Port Trust name has been changed to ‘MORMUGAO PORT AUTHORITY’. Therefore, all HODs are requested to initiate necessary action for making appropriate changes in the nomenclature of the Port, effect necessary changes in the relevant documents, papers, letterheads, and inform the authorities of the change concerned, stakeholders, etc.
Chief Engineer/ MPA is kindly requested to take necessary action to replace the name Boards affixed in the Port Areas (from Mormugao Port Trust to Mormugao Port Authority)” the letter mentioned.
Savio Correia, lawyer and green social activist, said that the enforcement of the Major Ports Authorities Act 2021 has major implications for Goa. From now on, all land and water area under the Major Port’s limits are officially under the ownership and control of the Mormugao Port Authority (MPA).
The state laws like Town and Country Planning Act, Goa Land Revenue Code, Panchayat and Municipal acts will not be enforceable in these areas. Any development in these areas will not require permission from the state and local governing bodies.
Correia further opined that the sad part is despite alerting the state government about the consequences of this act, nothing was done to protect Goa’s interest.
“I am also concerned with the impact of this law on the livelihood of the fishermen and coastal communities of Goa”, he added.
He said, “I feel the central government interfering with the state government’s power overlapping it will lead to the constitutional crises”.
Xencor Polgi, a green social activist, said, ” there is no use of high literacy in Goa when the educated people in Mormugao taluka are keeping mum on the draconian move of making Mormugao Port Trust to Mormugao Port Authority which gives ultimate power to MPA to operate in their port limits.
Polgi further added that it is sad to see that the well-qualified youth are blinded and enslaved to their political masters.
“People have lost their ability to voice out against the injustice. We had raised this issue long before, and now with this development soon, people may have to face the music,” he said.
Sanjay Redkar, the anti-Coal activist from Vasco, was very much disheartened by the recent development wherein now the Mormugao Port Trust has turned into Mormugao Port Authority.
Redkar opined that the ” struggle and efforts we activists took to create awareness among the people of Mormugao seem to have gone down the drain. It is unfortunate to see that the coal pollution affected people living and working at the Port are not reacting to this development in any way.
He further added that people are yet to get enlightened about the repercussions of such development. The local stakeholders present before in the Port Trust will now have no say, and the Central Ministry will appoint the people to decide and run the Mormugao Port Authority,” Redkar said.
Peter Andrade, a local, stated the renaming of MPT is as per the expectations of all those who feared the implementation of the MPA.
“This step is actually towards the corporatisation of our coastline wherein crony capitalists will indirectly manage the Port after getting a foothold by being a lessee. Using the Major ports act and tweaking the so-called authority to their advantage will adversely affect Goans’ traditional coastal occupations, as can be seen from the fact that even the sands of certain beaches are controlled by the Port,” he said.
It is sad that our government bowed down to the central government act and permitted its own hands to be tied down by this act and turning the local bodies impotent in the areas controlled by MPT, he adds.