Gujarat CZMP public hearing based on maps showing ocean as it existed 7 years old: Environmentalists

Pradumnasinh Chudasma

By Our Representative
Well-known environmentalists of the Paryavaran Suraksha Samiti (PSS), Vadodara, Rohit Prajapati and Krishnakant, and social activist Nita Mahadev of the Gujarat Lok Samiti (GLS), have alleged that the public hearing for the draft Coastal Zone Management Plan (CZMP), held in Dholera, a coastal town in Ahmedabad district, was held on the basis of maps reflecting the position of the Gujarat seacoast in 2011.
Calling the public hearing, which took place on Tuesday, an eyewash, in a joint statement, they demanded, the public hearing be declared null and void.
Declaring that this was highlighted by Bhal Bachao Samiti leader Pradyumnasinh Chudasma at the public hearing, the statement gave the instance of Mandvipura village, which has been shown in the map, even though was usurped by the ocean years ago. Furthermore, there are no details in the pre-draft CZMP maps, put up on the official government website of the Gujarat Ecology Commission, like the name of the villages, the survey number of the land that would be part of the coastal regulatory zone, and so on.

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