PANAJI: Residents of Nauxim, a small fishing hamlet on the outskirts of state capital Panaji, said they will resist plans to set up a yacht marina in their village and accused the government of trying to usurp their land and livelihood.

“We have gathered the villagers around to sensitise them about the decision taken by the environment ministry. We plan to fight this on two fronts. On the one hand, we will study and contest the legal implications of the decision taken by the environment ministry. On the other hand, we will fight the marina on the streets through a movement against it,” Suresh Palkar, a lawyer from the Nauxim said.

Villagers such as Pakar are upset that the Ministry of Environment, Forest and Climate Change’s Expert Appraisal Committee concluded that the project to build a marina at the village will not need an environmental clearance and that the clearance under the Coastal Regulation Zone will suffice.

Kargwal Constructions, which has proposed the development of a ‘AHOY Marina’ to facilitate small boat/yacht/craft parking and maintenance across an area of 15 hectares, has proposed the facility at Nauxim village which falls on the northern bank of the Zuari River opposite to Mormugao Port.

The project envisages a facility to accommodate 239 boats with space to accommodate two larger 50m yachts

According to the minutes that were recently released, the expert appraisal committee at its October 5 meeting discussed the project proposed by Kargwal Constructions and observed that the project did not come under the ambit of environmental impact assessment notification of 2006 and did not require the ministry’s environmental clearance. “However, the PP (project proponent) need to take other statutory clearances as applicable as per CRZ notification,” the EAC members noted at its October 5 meeting.

The project dates back to 2010 when the company first signed a lease with Mormugao Port Trust, Goa’s sole major port, to lease water to set up the marina.

Repeated protests by the villagers in the past have led the authorities and the company to put the plans on hold in the past.

The Congress and the Aam Aadmi Party have thrown their weight behind the villagers, while the Revolutionary Goans Party, whose lone seat represents the village where the project is planned, has approached the Bombay high court at Goa challenging the port’s decision to lease water area for the project.

The petition, which has been filed by the members of the RGP and three fishermen, has invoked the doctrine of public trust, which lays down that certain resources such as air, sea, waters and forests have great importance to the people as a whole that it would be wholly unjustified to make them a subject of private ownership.

“The resources being a gift of nature, they should be made freely available to everyone irrespective of their status in life,” the petition argued.

The petitioners also contend that the setting up of a marina will affect their livelihood and affect the economy and environment including the breeding of fish and the marine biodiversity.

According to Captain Arun Dua, the director of AHOY (Anytime Harbour of Yachts Pvt. Ltd) a subsidiary of Kargwal Constructions that is setting up the marina, the facility will offer a safe parking facility for yachts.

“AHOY is a service industry to facilitate tourism and will principally provide parking, repairing and maintenance facilities for small boats and yachts. It is envisaged to accommodate boats on the northern bank of the Mormugao Bay. It is designed to accommodate small pleasure boats of various sizes,” Capt Dua said.