BY NANDKUMAR KAMAT

Having been appointed in 2002 as the one man commission to conduct public hearings on the Miramar Beach Management Plan, the writer has been an eye witness to the slow but steady deterioration of the capital city’s beach… at the hands of government authorities.

EXACTLY eight years ago, on February 7, 2002, at 10.30 am, I entered the office of Mr Manohar Parrikar, MLA, Panaji and then CM of Goa, at the Old Secretariat accompanied by Mr. Sandip Jacques, then GM of the Goa State Infrastructure Development Corporation (GSIDC) and the liaison officer for a one man commission appointed by the Finance Department to conduct a public hearing on Miramar beach management (privatisation) plan.

Mr. Parrikar was dictating a note. He stopped that work and welcomed me. I presented him a copy of the report. The official photographer clicked the scene. Mr. Parrikar looked at the bulky report. I said: “Your government needs to study and implement the ten recommendations given at the end of the report. We particularly need better zoning for Miramar beach, people’s participation in the eco-friendly management of beach, an assessment/performance audit of the state government’s privatisation efforts so far, framing an omnibus beach management act and beach users’ rules, a policy on privatisation and private sector participation in infrastructural projects, a policy and an act for infrastructural projects, statutory support for public hearings on mega projects.” He browsed through the copy while listening to me and then kept it aside with other files to be read at leisure. I told him that I was releasing the summary of the report to the press.

ACHIEVEMENT?

AN important episode had come to an end… but that was not really the end of privatisation of public commons in Goa. As I look back at those events, I wonder: what really was achieved? Almost all the voices which opposed privatisation have fallen silent. Miramar is getting a facelift but the beach is facing an ecological death.

Miramar 2010. All along the new seashore road named after Dr Jack de Sequeira, public land (acquired by the Town and Country Planning Department and transferred to PWD to construct the new road linking Miramar circle to NIO Circle) has been encroached by private parties. They are wealthy and influential people. Boundary poles have been removed. Cross drainages have been blocked. Gardens and orchards have been erected. Private parking plots have come up in acquired land. Unauthorised religious structures have mushroomed overnight. Market cost of the encroached land: Rs. 300 millions. The collector, North Goa is helpless. The Chief Town Planner is helpless. The Chief Engineer, PWD shuts his eyes. Sand dunes which existed during 2001-02 have been levelled. A handful, which barely managed to survive near Caranzalem, were stripped of surface vegetation and now face extinction. Beach vegetation lies trampled and fragmented. A monoculture of coconut and casuarina plantations has simplified the sand dune ecosystem.

Flashback to Miramar: August 2001. The newly established GSIDC moots the idea of private management of beaches in Goa. To begin with, Miramar beach privatisation is proposed for a stretch of 1800 metres. Techno-economic feasibility reports are prepared. The issue comes up during the monsoon Assembly session. The government assures to consult all stakeholders.

September-November 2001. Voices of protest emerge against beach privatisation plan led by the People’s Movement for Civic Action (PMCA), a leading NGO from Panaji. The matter comes up before the state cabinet.
December 1st week. The cabinet decides to appoint a one man commission to conduct public hearings.
December 7, 2001. I get a call from the CM’s office. They seek my consent to be the ‘one man commission’. A call from Mr. Parrikar follows. He says that I would have just one month to submit the report and could operate from a place of my choice.

December 8, 2001: The notification is issued. I ask the GSIDC to contact me with details of Miramar Beach Management Plan (MBMP). I begin to study the formalities of conducting (non statutory) public hearings. I meet the MD, GSIDC in his office in EDC building and find the EDC hall suitable for public hearings. I ask GSIDC to make the details of MBMP available to public.

December 8-15, 2001: I conduct detail surveys and complete photo-documentation of the section of the beach to be privatised. First public hearing is announced. A participation form is devised. An e-mail id is created for people to make electronic submissions. Press notes are issued. I also issue instructions for video recording and verbatim notes/transcripts. The hearing is kept open for all. The VCDs are made available by GSIDC for viewing on request after the hearings. Press briefings are held after every hearing.

December 18, 2001: People’s memoranda and petitions trickle in. The first public hearing is conducted in the EDC conference hall. It draws a good response. People and NGOs demand extension of time to file their suggestions/objections/comments. I request the government to officially extend the time by another month, at least till the end of January 2002. The CM agrees.

December 20 to January 10. A series of meetings are conducted with government departments and many shocking facts get revealed regarding mismanagement of city’s natural assets, drainage, sanitation and infrastructure. I visit other beaches in north Goa and complete documentation of conditions there. The civil society and NGOs also conduct under the leadership of TERI, Western regional centre, Goa and NIO. NIO director and scientists also actively join the campaign against MBMP.

Mid Jan 2002. Second public hearing is conducted. It draws good response. The representatives of traditional fisher people are requested to join an on site inspection of the beach on January 21. A press note is given requesting citizens to join the inspection for ascertaining the ground conditions of the beach. After studying NIO’s Report, I am shocked to know that the water of River Mandovi from Campal to Caranzalem is not fit for swimming and bathing.

January 21, 2002. I begin a ‘beach walk’ at 3 pm from Old GMC, Campal and end it at 9 pm near Martins’ beach corner. Then chairperson of PMC, Mr Ashok Naik, joins me. I meet a large number of citizens in the walk and listen to their grievances, suggestions, etc. We notice the non functional drainage system, dumping of untreated effluents, heaps of solid waste, clogging of RCC pipes below DB Bandodkar road, seashore road etc. The encroachments near the beach are also documented. We note with alarm the discharge of seven million litres of sewage directly in Mandovi behind the indoor stadium. I direct the PWD engineer accompanying us to get the discharge stopped. I suggest to the Mayor that the no man’s land near Children’s park, Campal not claimed by Forest Department needs to be taken over by PMC (now CCP) and maintained as we notice that the place had become a den for beggars, drunkards, pimps, commercial sex workers and drug addicts.

January 22-30, 2002. Meetings are conducted with officials of PWD, health and PMC. Existing plans for infrastructural developments are discussed. I propose radical change in the labour contractors’ rules to make it mandatory for all migrant labourers to use the public toilets through a system of coupons. The aim is to stop the pollution of Mandovi waterfront and the Campal to Caranzalem stretch of beach from menace of human excreta. Agreements signed by Tourism Department to lease out Aguada land to Tata, Panaji Park to Hotel Mandovi and Terekhol Fort to a private party are studied. Material/documentation/policies/laws/reports on best practices for beach management around the world is collected and scrutinised. GSIDC is asked to submit its’ official justification for MBMP. The structural outline of the report begins to take shape.

January 31 to February 5, 2002. I work almost non stop to go through six volumes of detail project report of MBMP, make notes, complete a final scrutiny of all the electronic and direct submissions, letters, memoranda, transcripts of the public hearings, etc before typing the report.

February 5, 2002. To maintain confidentiality, I personally supervise the printing and binding of the copies of the report.

February 6, 2002. The report gets ready for submission. I inform the liaison officer to seek an appointment with the CM.

February 7, 2002. After official submission of the report, I circulate the seven-page summary to the press through the official channel of the Directorate of Information and Publicity.

‘The MBMP is rejected”.

Mr. Parrikar accepted the report but the action on recommendations is shelved as the government faces trouble. The Legislative Assembly is dissolved. A care-taker government continues till elections in June 2002. I follow the findings at different levels, keeping in view the ecological future of the Miramar beach in particular and Panaji in general.

July 2002: A BJP led government is installed. During monsoon Assembly session, a starred question is raised on encroachments in land under PWD’s possession along the seashore road, Miramar. Mr Parrikar intervenes to assure that the land would be resurveyed and all the illegal punctures and accesses by private parties would be removed.

August, 2002: Some unauthorised private roads are excavated abutting on Miramar’s new seashore road. These were never planned in first place and never shown on ODP. After a few days, the roads get restored. The whole issue is then forgotten quickly.

2002-2005. The government is reminded about the restoration of St. Inez tributary of Mandovi and the arm near the indoor stadium. The IFFI developments see transformation of Miramar beach area. An ill conceived roadside drainage project is undertaken and then gets abandoned. Rain trees along DB Badodkar road are identified for slaughter. Citizens conduct a protest meeting in March 2003. Huge ribbon development accelerates on Miramar beachfront between Science Centre to Caranzalem. Minor sand dunes get levelled at Caranzalem. Existing natural drains are destroyed. Streams shown on old Portuguese maps are obliterated. Elevation controls are sacrificed by tall apartments. These issues are repeatedly raised through several fora and also at an interaction meet organised by Panaji Rotarians. But the momentum generated over MBMP seems lost. The problem of invasion of weeds, dumping of garbage, glass waste, plastic waste, open defecation continues.

2006-07. After initial scepticism and subdued opposition, the civil society of Dona Paula, Taleigao, Caranzalem, Miramar accepts the new landscaped children’s garden project within CRZ near Caranzalem beach. It is the first major concretised project at the cost of original tall sand dunes and dune vegetation. After the monsoon, the Tourism department presses heavy machinery on Miramar beach to remove the sand deposits. I lodge protest and succeed in persuading them to stop use of machinery and resort to manual labour. The CCP engages services of NIO scientist Dr. Antonio Mascarenhas for a mini beach nourishment project at Miramar near the circle. It proves successful.

2007 to March 2009. The decay of Miramar beach continues. Campal beach gets eroded. Several casuarina trees fall. Stretch of beach between Kala Academy to Youth hostel gets severely eroded. The swimming pool managers near indoor stadium continue to release high quantities of chlorinated water in the river Mandovi making fisheries difficult downstream. The fishermen continue to complain, but it is the same old story. Beach vegetation around the Goa Marriott Resort and Yatri Niwas struggles to survive. Huge shoals get formed at the mouth of St. Inez creek near GMC blocking tidal flushing. The St Inez creek is meeting a slow death. I alert the people by writing a series of four articles on mismanagement of the St. Inez creek.

November 2009. I conduct an inspection of St. Inez creek as part of JNNRUM study in presence of Mayor, CCP and MS, GSUDA and other officers and reiterate my suggestions made earlier to improve the drainage of the area, decongest the mouth of the creek and manage the unclaimed new Campal beach area by CCP.

2010 till February 6. The main beach near Miramar circle/Yatri Niwas undergoes frequent bouts of darkness due to non functioning of high mast lamp. Hundreds of city dogs empty their bowels near the Miramar-Caranzalem waterfront. There is no control over two wheelers being driven on the beach. Even jeeps and cars are spotted where access is possible from main road. The small pristine section near Martins’ beach corner becomes dirtier. Many traditional fishermen stop their business as they catch only garbage of the city in their beach nets. From original 15, as per the map of Captain of Ports only five sand dunes are found in place but severely fragmented. Some voices of protest emerge when the vegetation is cut and burnt. After some noise in and by the press, the matter is forgotten. A facelift from Gaspar Dias Club to Caranzalem petrol pump appeals to the people and patrons of the beach. There is better landscaping, new footpaths, comfortable street furniture as the beachfront comes alive with new amenities the memories of MBMP are assigned to the dustbin with the basic question of the expanding capital city’s solid waste management still hanging in the air.

(To be continued next week)