New guidelines to expedite scrutiny of proposals before GCZMA

Panaji: The Goa Coastal Zone Management Authority (GCZMA) has now decided to adopt guidelines that will expedite the process of scrutinising and disposing of applications seeking CRZ approvals. A permission once approved by the authority will now see the application process completed within three days.
“In order to ensure greater transparency and accountability in the approval process it is decided to follow guidelines as below: In the site inspection report, it shall be clearly mentioned whether there is any inconsistency in the plan submitted by the applicant and the same shall be clearly mentioned in the report along with applicable fees for the area giving the break-up,” the GCZMA has said.
It has said that once the minutes of the authority’s hearing meetings are uploaded to the GCZMA website, the engineer and surveyor concerned will have to sign and stamp the plans within three days, authenticating technical aspects.
“Once any proposal is approved by the authority and the minutes are uploaded on the website, after payment of fees and stamping of the plans, the dealing hand shall within three working days put up the permission for signature of the member secretary,” the GCZMA has said.
The authority has said that expert members, engineers and field surveyors have to calculate any fees payable, giving the break-up, at the time of preparing the inspection report. The GCZMA said that mentioning this fee in their report before submitting the cost that the project proponent would incur will “bring transparency in the procedure and avoid delay”.
The plans should be as per the CRZ norms before placing the file in the authority meeting, the authority has stated. “The plans should be certified by the engineers/field surveyors before placing it in the meeting,” the GCZMA stated.
Recently, the CAG's audit report had criticised the GCZMA for granting project clearances despite inadequacies in environmental impact assessment (EIA) reports. Specifically, the report highlighted instances where the GCZMA approved projects without proper verification of potential ecological risks and without ensuring the inclusion of mandatory documents.