PANJIM: A ‘State within a state’, as all right-thinking Goans have called the literal usurping of large areas of traditional Goan land and institutions; has been created.
The Mormugao Port Trust (MPT) has now been renamed as Mormugao Port Authority (MPA) under the provisions of the Major Port Authorities Act (MPA), 2021.
Through a letter, the MPT Secretary has asked all Heads of Departments (HoDs) to initiate necessary action for making appropriate changes in the nomenclature of the port and also to effect necessary changes in the relevant documents, papers, letterheads and also inform the changes to authorities concerned, stakeholders, etc.
In pursuance of sub-section 1 of Section 3 of the Major Port Authorities Act (MPA), 2021 the Government of India had already constituted a new Board of Major Port Authority for the Mormugao Port. Hence, the existing Board constituted under the Mormugao Port Trusts Act, 1963 also ceased to exist from January 28 this year.
Provisions in the MPA 2021 are designed to accord unrestricted and arbitrary powers in the hands of the Port Board to carry out construction and development activities on its land assets and within port limits without any reference to local town planning and development laws and even permits privatisation of the port.
Environmentalist Adv Savio J F Correia said that the Major Port Authorities Act (MPA), 2021 is worrisome for Goa since the MPA will now be a ‘state within a state’ and the Goa laws will not be applicable to the MPA. Also the MPA need not obtain any permission from the government and local authorities for any kind of development within port limits.
Correia said that MPA has now absolute control of port limits and it can be incorporated and also listed on the Stock Exchange. “Due to this large corporates will buy shares and thus they will have control over our water and land area,” Correia said.
He added that he was the first to alert the Goa government about the implications of the Major Ports Authorities Act after it was passed by Parliament in March 2021. “The State government acknowledged my concerns and subsequently the government’s decision was communicated to the Captain of Ports. The Goa Assembly also passed a resolution opposing the new Bill but the resolution remained only on paper,” he rued.
The new Act will also affect the livelihood of traditional fishermen since the Mormugao Port jurisdiction extends up to Zuari bridge, Raj Bhavan and Betul, he said.
Environment activist Xencor Polji said that with MPT changing to MPA, all the port limit and land area will be under control of the authority, with government losing its control. “The traditional fishermen living along the coastline will have to fight for their rights. The new act is disastrous for Goa,” he said.
Former Chief Minister and MP Luizinho Faleiro had also called the Major Port Authorities Act, 2021 a disastrous legislation and had demanded that it must be repealed if the identity of Goa is to be protected. He had also demanded that the Chief Minister should lead an all-party delegation to the Prime Minister to oppose the Act.
Fearing that provisions of the new Act could directly and indirectly dilute powers of States, the Goa government in June 2021 wrote to the Union Ministry of Ports, Shipping and Waterways asking it to reconsider the Major Port Authorities Bill in view of State laws and its conflict with the Land Revenue Code and other State Acts.