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Court moves in to prevent abuse of Goa coastline

Sandesh Prabhudesai in Panaji

After six years of blatant violation of coastal zone regulation guidelines by vested interests along Goa's famous beachline, the high court has now pulled up its sleeves to halt the environmental degradation. At the same time, it has asked the lay man to be vigilant to efforts to obliterate the pristine conditions along the state's coast.

In a vital judgement, a division bench comprising Justice Ferdin Rebello and V C Daga quashed and set aside the High Tide Line, which was demarcated by the state government in July 1994 without consulting Central authorities, for the south Goa coastline. In a separate judgement, the same bench set procedural functions - right from panchayat level to the Central and state levels - designed to prevent illegal constructions along the north Goa coastline, from Candolim to Baga.

Both are likely to affect Chief Minister Francisco Sardinha's plans to circumvent the CRZ guidelines to allow construction along the riverline. Environment Minister Prakash Phadte has even announced in the ongoing assembly session that the Goa-based National Institute of Oceanography has been entrusted the task to demarcate the HTL afresh for the entire state.

The high court has already scrapped the HTL demarcated by the Surveyor General of India in 1994, for the 27 kms of coastline from Velsao to Cavelossim in south Goa, which is supposed to be the longest one-piece stretch of beach in Asia. The CRZ regulations define HTL as 'the line on the land up to which the highest water line reaches during the spring tide'. The high court, however, observed that the HTL on the 27-km stretch was marked by the SGI by calculating the 'average between high and low tides', thus bringing it at least 60 metres closer to the sea.

Not less than 10 five star hotels are situated close to the beach, besides several small smaller hotels, company guest houses and even private bungalows built by non-Goans as holiday homes. While clearly stating that the state government had no authority to demarcate the HTL, the high court also observed that the state couldn't have two kinds of HTL as the rest of the 105 km long coastline follows the CRZ guidelines.

But since even these guidelines are being blatantly violated for new constructions, the court has now directed the state-level Coastal Zone Management Authority to decide upon cases of CRZ violation as per the reports received from local authorities.

In this context, Candolim and Calangute panchayats have been instructed to file reports of illegal constructions to the CZMA by 29 July. It has been made mandatory for taluka mamlatdars to file weekly reports, based on patrolling and fortnightly inspection by deputy collectors, before the CZMA for necessary action through the district collectors.

The court has also armed any citizen to safeguard the coastline from degradation in case the law fails to preserve the pristine conditions along the seashore. "Right to clean environment, fresh air and unpolluted water have now been recognised as part of life and it is not necessary to enact a law to make Article 21 of the Constitution, which guarantees right to life to citizens, meaningful," states the order.

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