Goa, Aug. 26 -- The Goa Coastal Zone Management Author ity's (GCZMA) decision to clear 25 temporary cottag es and a shack at Agonda has been struck down by the National Green Tribu nal (NGT), which found the coastal regulator had effec tively ignored its own en vironmental safeguards to approve construction on a beach with zero additional carrying capacity. In a sharp indictment of the authority, the NGT's Western Zone Bench, Pune, held that the GCZMA had violated its own Beach Car rying Capacity Report as well as an earlier decision restricting new structures along the Agonda beach.

The judgment by Justice Dinesh Kumar Singh and Expert Member Dr Sujit Kumar Bajpayee, quashed the GCZMA's September 23, 2024 approval for 25 cottages and on...