The Goa Coastal Zone Management Authority (GCZMA) has, therefore, decided to ask the state government to take this matter up with the Union environment ministry.
At a meeting held last month, GCZMA informed the national authority that due to breach in bundhs and collapse of sluice gates there has been saline water ingress in khazan land and mangroves have grown here as a result.
Earlier, the Goa government had already brought this issue to the notice of the Union ministry for environment, forest and climate change (MoEF&CC). Goa received relaxation on this basis, whereby the high tide line (HTL) would be restricted only up to the bundh for the state and not based on salinity. A CRZ notification had also been amended to state this relaxation for Goa.
But NCZMA has rejected Goa’s plea seeking relaxation in the khazan land mangrove buffer zone on the basis of the ministry’s concession to the state.
“NCZMA informed GCZMA to finalise CZMP 2019 so that the benefits will be available for GCZMA, and it is not possible to make changes suggested by GCZMA,” the national authority told the state.
This led GCZMA to decide at the meeting held on February 22 to ask the Goa government to pursue the matter with the ministry.
“The provision of buffer zone for mangroves in such khazan lands would result in inclusion of additional area in CZMP, which otherwise would not have been included in CRZ. The MoEF&CC has amended the notification to restrict the HTL along the bundhs,” GCZMA told the national authority.
It also said that the 2019 notification does not provide a buffer for mangroves in private lands.
“The HTL had been already restricted up to bundhs for Goa in CRZ Notification 2011 and hence request for removal of buffer from mangroves in khazan land. Due to breach of bundhs and collapse of sluice gates, there is saline water intrusion in the khazan lands (which are primarily agricultural lands) leading to growth of mangroves away from the rivers,” GCZMA said in its plea to the national authority.