The Goa government on Friday rejected the draft Coastal Zone Management Plan (CZMP) prepared by the Chennai-based National Centre for Sustainable Coastal Management (NCSCM) citing that it was inaccurate and not satisfactory and decided to send it back to the Chennai-based agency for rectification.
The government also announced that the public hearing on the draft CZMP, scheduled to be held on July 7 at Margao in South Goa and Taleigao in North Goa, stands postponed until the agency comes back with a proper draft plan.
Environment Minister Nilesh Cabral announced the decision of the government in the presence of Chief Minister Pramod Sawant after the ministers and MLAs raised serious concerns and apprehensions over the draft CZMP at a presentation held in the state assembly on Friday.
The Environment Minister rejected the plan stating that the current draft plan was not satisfactory and asked the NCSCM to redraft it by addressing all the concerns addressed by them.
Addressing a press conference after the meeting, the Chief Minister said that the plan should consider all the issues pointed out by the MLAs before it is finalised. He announced that the scheduled public hearing on the draft CZMP stands postponed and appealed to all the village panchayat bodies in the coastal belt to provide their suggestions to the plan, which would be submitted by the Goa Coastal Zone Management Authority (GCZMA) to NCSCM.