PANAJI: The National Green Tribunal (NGT) Goa Foundations review petition seeking deletion of the time limit of August 31, 2021 for preparation of the final Coastal Zone Management Plan (CZMP) for Goa has been dismissed by the NGT.
Through the petition the green NGO had also asked that GCZMA be given 6 months time after the public hearings are concluded to consider and incorporate all suggestions as per law.
Goa Foundation had submitted that with Aug 31 as deadline Goa government has less than two months to finalize the CZMP after the public hearing, instead of the 6 months as permitted by law.
It said that as per the deadline imposed by the Tribunal, the State government would have barely a month after the public hearing to examine and consider over 5,000 comments, suggestions and objections, send the CZMPS back to the National Center for Sustainable Coastal Management (NCSCM) in Chennai for the necessary corrections in the CZMP maps: and then appraise and finalize before its transmission to Ministry of Environment, Forest and Climate Change (MoEF&CC).
The public hearing on the draft plan in scheduled on July 8 in North and South Goa District.
The petitioner pointed out that the finalization of the CZMP cannot be treated lightly and must be carried out with utmost sincerity, and diligence, and with due regard for the concerns of those that would be affected.
The applicant alleged that the pressure on the authorities to complete the exercise by end August, 2021 is resulting in arbitrary and unfair time restriction of 15 minutes only being imposed on the citizens at the public hearing.
