Goemkarponn desk
PANAJI: Environment Minister Aleixo Sequeira told the Goa Legislative Assembly that the National Institute of Oceanography (NIO) has been asked to conduct a new assessment of the carrying capacity of Goa’s beaches and that the government will decide whether to conduct a similar study for the entire State after receiving the report.
According to Sequeira, the government has also chosen a Dutch business to restore the beaches that have been harmed by coastal erosion.
“We have requested permission from the External Affairs Ministry in Delhi to proceed with signing the Memorandum of Understanding with this company,” Sequeira stated in response to the debate concerning the requests for funding related to the departments he oversees, including Legislative Affairs, Environment and Climate Change, and Law.
According to Sequeira, the government established the Climate Change Cell, which is in charge of creating a “State Action Plan for Climate Change,” since it recognizes the ecological threat that the state faces.
He also said that the State Action Plan for Climate Change will take into account the harm that growing urbanization poses to the environment.
According to Sequeira, the State Environment Impact Assessment Authority (SEIAA), which is made up of specialists, was established by the government to review the EIA reports of major project proponents.
According to him, each project involving more than 20,000 square meters of developed space must have an EIA report.
According to Sequeira, the Goa State Pollution Control Board has installed “noise monitoring stations” in more than a dozen places throughout the state, including Cavelossim, Arambol, Calangute, Candolim, Vagator, Morjim, and Benaulim. The station has not yet been erected at Baga in Calangute because the board is awaiting an NOC from the GTDC for the location of the installation.
According to Environment Minister Aleixo Sequeira, Goa was the only State to have created maps at a scale of 1:4,000 in the Coastal Zone Management Plan, 2011. Goa had developed the plan with diligence.
The minister did, however, state that after receiving the maps, it was discovered that they did not line up with the State’s Cadastral maps and that some adjustments were consequently necessary.
“We anticipate receiving these maps from NCSCM in Chennai shortly,” he stated, clarifying that the CZMP 2019 preparation process would solely involve updating the CZMP 2011.
