Stop Pontoon fraud in Mandovi

Date: 19^th June 2015

1. To, The Principal Secretary (Environment) & Chairman (GCZMA), Government of Goa, Secretariat, Porvorim, Goa	2. To, The Commissioner and Secretary (Ports) Government of Goa, Secretariat, Porvorim, Goa
3. To, The Secretary (Town and Country) Government of Goa, Porvorim, Goa	4. To, The Collector (North Goa) Panjim, Goa
5. To, The Member-Secretary, Goa Coastal Zone Management Authority (GCZMA), Panjim, Goa	6. To, The Captain of Ports, Panjim, Goa
7. To, The Chief Town Planner, Town and Country Planning Department, Patto, Panjim, Goa	8. To, The Deputy Collector & S.D.O (Tiswadi) Panaji, Goa
9 To, Chief Engineer, Water Resources Department, Panjim, Goa	10 To, The Principal Conservator of Forest, Panjim, Goa
11 To, The Chief Engineer, Public Works Department, Panjim, Goa	12 To, Director of Tourism, Panjim, Goa
13 To, The Director, Directorate of Industries, Trade and Commerce, Panjim, Goa	14 To, Dr. Antonio Arsenio Mascarenhas, Expert Member, Goa Coastal Zone Management Authority, Panjim, Goa

Subject: Pontoon fraud in river Mandovi - revoke the NOC/ Approval given

Dear Madam / Sir,

We have already filed our objections dated 15^th May 2015 to the permissions granted to M/s Ozone Leisure and Resorts Pvt. Ltd to construct floating pontoon in Mandovi by Goa Coastal Zone Management Authority (GCZMA) as well as Captain of Ports Department based on minutes of 113^th meeting of GCZMA held on 26^th February 2015.

Now we wish to bring to your notice the following discrepancies in the process of granting of these permissions:

1.      On behalf of Ozone Leisure and Resorts Pvt. Ltd on 27^th April 2011 Yulette C. Coutinho, manager-legal made a letter to Captain of Ports, Panjim asking for the repairs of an existing Jetty under Survey No. 2/5 at Panelim, Old Goa. Ms Coutinho has put in writing that she was not aware as to when Captain of Ports had issued license to construct the same and Captain of Ports was requested to search for Jetty Registers in the names of Nirmitee Holdays Pvt Ltd., Aishwarya Resorts Pvt. Ltd. and P & P. Hotels Pvt. Ltd. On behalf of Ozone Leisure and Resorts Pvt. Ltd Ms Coutinho, the Authorised signatory expressed the desire to continue to use and operate the existing Jetty. Captain of Ports did not reply to this letter nor Expert member of GCZMA Dr.Antonio Mascarenhas noted existence of such a Jetty in his site inspection report carried out on 10/10/2014.

2.      Nine month and ten days later on February 6^th 2012 Bruno Ferrao, Manager- Administration, Ozone Leisure and Resorts Pvt. Ltd again made another application to the Member-Secretary, GCZMA seeking permission for putting up Floating Pontoon in river Mandovi adjacent to plot bearing survey no. 2/5 (Part) situated at Panelim, Old Goa. In this letter again Mr. Ferrao claims that “the said pot had an existing jetty which is presently in a dilapidated condition and hence we intend to put a temporary Floating Pontoon at its place.” Again it must be noted that an Expert member of GCZMA Dr.Antonio Mascarenhas in his report of site inspection on 10/10/2014 neither records existence of any pot nor an existing Jetty in dilapidated conditions at plot bearing survey no. 2/5 at Panelim. In this letter Bruno Ferrao also gave reference to likely siltation and damage to surrounding “The Floating Pontoon will be a temporary structure and will not cause any siltation or damage to the surroundings.” On what basis has Bruno Ferrao claimed that pontoon will not cause siltation or damage the surroundings? What study has he conducted on behalf of Ozone Leisure and Resorts Pvt. Ltd to put up such claims in writing? If Ozone Leisure and Resorts Pvt. Ltd has carried out the studies to this effect then why were they not disclosed? Now it looks Bruno has made such claims without any basis and hence this application of 6/2/2012 is a fraud and all the approvals granted by GCZMA are fraud too. This fraud is confirmed from the Expert Member of GCZMA Dr. Antonio Mascarenhas’ observations recorded in the 113^th meeting of the GCZMA held on 26^th February 2015 (case no. 7.5, page 32) as “Any structure within river is bound to cause upstream and / or downstream erosion and / or accretion.”

3.      It is hence truthful that there is no existing Jetty in dilapidated condition as claimed by Ozone Leisure and Resorts Pvt. Ltd as this fact has not been confirmed by Captain of Ports nor by member-secretary GCZMA. This is completely fraud.

4.      Based on this fraud correspondence Ozone Leisure and Resorts Pvt. Ltd Vice-President – Business Development Gajanan Karkare on 21^st February 2013 wrote to The Principal Secretary (Environment), Government of Goa who is also the Chairman, GCZMA to consider the application of Bruno Ferrao on behalf of the company -and cited above – to provide Ozone Leisure and Resorts Pvt. Ltd the permission / NOC for the proposed construction of the floating Pontoon Jetty in river Mandovi adjacent to Plot No.2/5 at Panelim, Old Goa.

5.      On 20^th June 2014 the above mentioned Gajanan Karkare, Vice-President – Business Development, Ozone Leisure and Resorts Pvt. Ltd again wrote to Member-Secretary, GCZMA asking for permission / NOC for the proposed construction of the floating Pontoon jetty in river Mandovi adjacent to Plot survey No.2/5 at Panelim, Old Goa with application dated 6/2/2012 of Bruno Ferrao as the basis.

6.      The effect of this process of fraud Dr.Antonio Mascarenhas, and Expert Member of GCZMA in his inspection report of 10/10/2014 noted that “Such activities need an EIA from competent authorities as stipulated in the CRZ 2001 rules.” This expert observation has been sidetracked and approvals granted by GCZMA as recorded in minutes of its 113^th meeting held on 26/02/2015. As we have already mentioned in our last letter we re-assert that this is fraud that will lead to very serious consequences including call for high level investigations.

7.      Bharat Mukti Morcha therefore calls Goa Coastal Zone Management Authority (GCZMA) to revoke its approval for floating Pontoon jetty in the area adjacent to plot bearing Survey no.2/5 Panelim village, Old-Goa, Tiswadi Taluka dated 04/03/2015 granted from CRZ point of view vide letter GCZMA/TIS/PANE/11-12/07/2184 granted to Ozone Leisure and Resorts Pvt. Ltd.

8.      Bharat Mukti Morcha calls upon Captain of Ports to revoke the NOC dated 29/01/2013 granted for Construction of floating Pontoon jetty in river Mandovi adjacent to Plot survey No.2/5 at Panelim, Old Goa vide letter No.I-11017/Floating Pontoon/Panalim/476 to Ozone Leisure and Resorts Pvt. Ltd.

9.    Bharat Mukti Morcha considers this approval to M/s Ozone Leisure and Resorts Pvt. Ltd to construct 18 meters long and 10 meters deep floating Pontoon Jetty in Old Goa as fraud as the observation of Expert Member Antonio Mascarenhas to carry on Environmental Impact Assessment (EIA) under CRZ 2011 rules before construction has been over looked and the transcripts of the “detailed discussion and due deliberations” held during the meeting are not recorded in the minutes of the 113^th meeting of GCZMA.

10. Bharat Mukti Morcha calls for detail EIA report as well as Public Hearing on this and approvals granted to Pontoon Jetty construction by GCZMA as well as Captain of Ports must be revoked with immediate effect as it is nothing more than fraud.

Anticipating your quick action,

Thanking you,

Yours sincerely,

        Sd/-

Maggie Silveira

President, Goa Unit

          Sd/-

Sanjay Harmalkar

Convener, Diwar Unit

        Sd/- 

Aaron D’mello

Convener,

Ribandar Unit

        

             Sd-

Rohidas Andrade

Convener, Bambolim Unit

          Sd/-

Sanjay Pereira

Convener, Cacra Unit