: The Kerala government should approach the Union Ministry of Environment, Forest and Climate Change to include its case in the proposed amendments of the Coastal Regulation Zone rules 2011 for setting up the Sewage Treatment Plants (STP) in its coastal cities, according to A. Ramachandran, former member of the Kerala State Coastal Zone Management Authority (KCZMA).
The case of Mumbai was considered by the MoEFCC after taking into account the non-availability of the land in the coastal belt for setting up STP units. The marshy coastal sector of the State is mostly mangrove areas and also inter-tidal areas. Kerala should make use of the opportunity provided by the Ministry to comment on the draft notification to push its case, said Dr. Ramachandran.
Besides Kochi, at least four coastal districts of the State, including Kozhikode and Thiruvananthapuram, face similar issues. Kerala should convince the Ministry about the scarcity of land and the difficulties in identifying alternative sites. The National Green Tribunal (NGT) struck down the conditional clearance for the project after ensuring compensatory afforestation as there were no such provisions in the law. Once such provisions are incorporated in the Coastal Regulation Zone Rules, it would be possible for the projects to come up and Kerala should strongly plead its case, he said.
