National Fishworkes Forum along with traditional fishermen association like Old Cross Canoe Owners Association Co-operative, Ltd , Baina Ramponkar, Fishing Canoe Owners Society, Ltd. , Akhil Goa Kshatriya Pagui Samaj , The canacona taluka Gabit fishermen trawlers/machanised craft owners co-operative society ltd and environmental NGO Goencho Ekvott slammed the Ministry of environment and Union Minister Bhupender Yadav and PM Narendra Modi for acting like a hypocrite as on one side he received the highest environmental honour i.e Champions of the Earth Award and on other side he and is government is all out to destroy 7516.6km of fragile coastline of India as the latest CRZ dilution will completely destroy our economy and natural resources for corny capitalist of Gujarat with a sole intention to make Goa a coal destination ,firstly they sold 111 rivers i.e 14500km of rivers, secondly they Sold our 12 Major ports to Adani and now have completely diluted the CRZ from 500mtrs to 0 mts through this latest CRZ amendments of CRZ notification 2019 which will now allow extractive industries like Oil, Gas and Hydroncarbon Exploration venture in the Mangroves, Swamps and also the coastal fishing grounds which will invariably affect the livelihoods of the coastal community.
Olencio Simoes General Secretary of NFF stated that when thousands people of India had opposed the dilution of the Coastal Regulation Zone but still this brutal crony government forced the new CRZ notification 2019 on us by diluting the No Development Zone from 200mts to 50mts,But sadly today Secretary, Ministry of Environment, Forest and Climate Change has further amended the notification on November 1, 2021, which will have a devastating impact on the coastal states of India and fragile and eco-sensitive coasts as this dilution is only to fulfil the sagarmala programme in India which plans to covert our coastline and riverline into an industrial hub.
This amendment has planned to completed take over our ocean as the Central Government declared certain coastal stretches as Coastal Regulation Zone and restrictions were imposed on the setting up and expansion of industries, operations and processes in the said zone but the Central Government have received representations from different STAKEHOLDERS viz. the State Governments and Ministry of Petroleum and Natural Gas (MoPNG) through Director General of Hydrocarbon (DGH) for making certain amendments in CRZ Notification 2019 and the National Coastal Zone Management Authority (NCZMA) in its 42nd meeting held on the 23rd March, 2021 has also recommended the inclusion of provisions on the above issues in the CRZ Notification, 2019;
” In 5.1.2, for sub-clause (xiii) and in paragraph 5.4, for sub-clause (x), the following subclause shall be substituted namely: – “Development and Production of oil and natural gas and all associated facilities thereto; Exploratory drilling operations shall be exempted from prior CRZ clearance.”