The public hearing organised by the Puducherry government to discuss the Puducherry Coastal Zone Management Plan (PCZMP) got off to a stormy start here on Wednesday with representatives from fishermen panchayats and non-governmental organisations registering their protest against irregular approach on the part of the authorities.
As an official from the Department of Science, Technology and Environment (DSTE) began presenting the Puducherry Coastal Zone Management Plan, fishermen from several coastal hamlets raised slogans demanding that the public hearing be cancelled.
They alleged that the authorities did not give them proper notification. Moreover, the pamphlets were not issued in Tamil. The draft PCZMP was only a move to disturb the environment and affect the livelihood of scores of fishermen, they said, before staging a walkout.
C.H. Balamohan of Alliance for Good Governance (AGG), a coalition of various non-governmental organisations in Puducherry, pointed out that the 2011 Central notification had not been strictly complied with and the public consultation had been organised in a haphazard manner.
No contour maps
The Coastal Zone Management Plan maps prepared in 1996 under the Coastal Regulatory Zone (CRZ) notification 1991, which were supposed to be presented and compared, was not done. The hazard line and other related information such as contour maps, which are crucial for planning, were not provided, he added.
The draft plan does not have any details on fishermen settlements/villages, extension of the settlements/villages, boat parking areas, and fish drying areas. Pre-plan preparatory meetings with the fishermen had not been conducted, which was an important step to understand their issues and demarcate the relevant areas such as sand dunes.
Selvamanikandan, a representative of Vaithikuppam panchayat, said there was a strict ban on any construction within 50 metres from the coastline as per CRZ-1 classification. But the government itself had gone ahead with the development of the Puducherry port in violation of this ban.
Collector Satyendra Singh Dursawat, who chaired the meeting, clarified that the objective of the meeting was to elicit the suggestions and objections of the stakeholders. The public consultation was quasi judicial authority and hence interruption would not be allowed.
A senior official of DSTE explained the highlights of the draft PCZMP. But the stakeholders and representatives from fishermen panchayats, kept telling the authorities that Vaithikuppam and other coastal hamlets had started bearing the brunt of sea erosion because of rampant construction activities in the CRZ from Kalapet to Moorthykuppam.
Ashok, a fisherman of Solai Nagar, pointed out that there was a ban on construction of groynes along the coast and the work had been suspended since 2008 on the directions of the National Green Tribunal. But the government, under the guise of beach nourishment, had been doing the same by dumping boulders in front of the Chief Secretariat.
He said the authorities defended the move stating that they were promoting tourism by the beach nourishment plan. This was a weak and unacceptable argument, he said.
‘Dredging not done’
Raja, another fisherman of Thengaithittu, said the coast had been converted into a dumping ground for plastics and solid waste. Dredging had not been done properly and fishermen were facing the brunt all along, he said.
The fishermen settlements/villages, extension of the settlements/villages, boat parking areas, and fish drying areas, had not been marked. Pre-plan preparatory meetings with the fishermen had not been conducted, which was an important step to understand their issues and demarcate the relevant areas, geomorphologic features like sand dunes, beaches, and spits.
