An action council led by the Kamburam Dharma Paripalana Araya Samajam will launch an indefinite agitation against the city Corporation from Monday, alleging that the Corporation authorities were delaying action against three builders who reportedly violated the Coastal Regulation Zone (CRZ) rules and constructed three apartment complexes on the coastline of Kozhikode.
Leaders of the action council, who convened a special meeting here on Sunday, hinted that they would block the coastal highway as part of the planned protests during this week and take out marches to the city Corporation office till the construction was stopped. Along with this, legal measures too would be taken and file a petition to the Kerala High Court for its intervention.
“For the past several years, we have been campaigning for action against the illegal construction on the coastline. The Corporation secretary, who is legally bound to act, was maintaining silence on the issue,” blamed Shaibu Kamburam, a leader of the action council. He warned that the construction at all the three sites would be stopped with the support of coastal people if the Corporation authorities were not ready to act.
As per the official records obtained by the Araya Samajam from the Kerala Coastal Zone Management Authority (KCZMA), the construction of three flats near the Kamburam beach in the city was “unlawful” and permission was granted for the same from the Corporation flouting all the existing CRZ norms.
The KCZMA report that explained the reasons in detail to the district administration and the Corporation authorities had also asked them to stop the work immediately.
It was in 2009 that the alleged violation first came to the notice of the KCZMA and the Kerala High Court with the interventions of the coastal people. A three-member KCZMA panel, which was formed following a court order to check the issue, had found that there were serious slips on the part of the Corporation in allowing constructions in a CRZ area.
According to the report of the panel, the first builder was permitted to start construction in an extent of 68.75 cents of land marked on map number 55 of the Kerala Coastal Zone Management (KCZM) plan. Permission for the Rs.10.36-crore project was granted in November, 2006.
The second one, located in Map number 55 of the KCZM plan, was given permission in November, 2008. The builder started construction in an area of 30.43 cents reportedly within the CRZ area. Similarly, the third builder also got an area of 64.5 cents for constructions. According to official records, permission was granted for this project in September, 2008.
