Panaji: Chief minister Pramod Sawant urged Union environment minister Bhupender Yadav to relax noise rules to allow music beyond 10pm in designated or less populated areas to help promote Goa as a wedding destination. Sawant also urged Yadav to allow sand extraction in CRZ areas.Goa has consistently been following up with Union govt to give relaxation to the state to allow music beyond 10pm to boost tourism in the state and extraction of sand, as prices of sand have gone up and the common man is suffering.State govt said that Goa has turned into a wedding destination, and many people want to have weddings at night, with music being one of their requirements.Sawant explained to Yadav that there is a shortage of sand in Goa as sand extraction has stopped in the state. Goa sand traders on Tuesday threatened to halt sand transport from Kudal and other parts of Maharashtra from Aug 1 to Sept 30, citing govt’s failure to lift the National Green Tribunal’s (NGT) ban on sand extraction. They said the shutdown aims to pressure state govt to revive the sand-mining industry that has been stalled for years.“Held fruitful discussion on a sustainable, well-regulated framework for sand extraction in Goa, and various other issues. Grateful for his guidance in advancing Goa’s balanced development,” said Sawant.A senior official said that the coastal regulation zone (CRZ) notifications 2011 and 2019 prohibit extraction of sand in CRZ areas and sustainable sand mining guidelines are framed considering dry riverbed mining in non-coastal parts of the country. “However, the office memorandum (OM) issued by Union environment ministry permits extraction from sand bars and removal of sand bars,” he said.State govt has conducted a detailed environmental impact assessment (EIA) study and modelling studies for sand mining in the estuaries of Goa. National Institute of Oceanography (NIO) has highlighted in its report that sand is predominantly available in estuaries and CRZ areas of the state.
