Mumbai: The Maharashtra government will request the Centre for an amendment to the Coastal Regulation Zone rules to ensure tidal waves do not destroy farm land along its 750-km coastline. The government announced in the Council on Thursday that it plans to erect temporary check dams in areas like Uran and Panvel, and a request to this effect will be sent to the Centre.
Cabinet Minister Diwakar Raote said thousands of acres of farm land are being destroyed by tidal waves. The minister also said that low quality check dams were constructed by contractors at the district and taluka level, which led to sea water seeping in and affecting the farm productivity.
In Uran and Panvel, rice farming was destroyed in taluks of Kelvane, Punade and Vasheni because the protection dams could not stop the water. “Most of this land became barren while many farmers went bankrupt,” Mr. Raote said.
“We have conducted a probe and found officials and contractors guilty. While action was taken against them, compensation has been awarded to the farmers,” he said.
The question was raised by legislators Balram Patil, Pravin Darekar, Girish Vyas, Sanjay Dutt, Sharad Ranpise, all of whom demanded to know what the government is doing to protect farm land along the coastline.
