Kerala will urge the Centre to relax norms of the Coastal Regulation Zone (CRZ) to help the fishing community build houses in notified areas, Chief Minister Oommen Chandy has said.
With the CRZ notification issued by the Union Environment Ministry in 2012 coming into force, several fishermen families living in the densely populated coastal belts of Kerala are faced with the threat of eviction.
Inaugurating the work on the Rs. 48.8-crore Manjeswaram fishing harbour on Friday, Mr. Chandy said the proposed relaxation would not be made applicable to resorts coming up along the coastal belts.
The government has decided to build 7,500 houses, each costing Rs. 2 lakh, for fishermen families in the State by taking Rs.150 crore as loan from the Housing and Urban Development Corporation (HUDCO), he said.
Stating that process of application from eligible fishermen for the housing scheme had already commenced, Mr. Chandy said 500 such houses have been planned in Kasaragod district.
The UDF government had made a budgetary allocation of Rs. 100 crore to provide subsidy for kerosene for running fishing boats, a gesture which he termed as the largest of its kind in the State.
While the new harbour would commence its full-fledged operation in three years, the works of yet another fishing harbour in Cheruvathur in the district along with two more harbours in the State would commence this year itself, he said.
A bridge to be built at a cost of Rs. 16.50 lakh would also come up near the harbour to connect the estuary linking the Manjeswaram and Mangalpady panchayats.
As many as 24 new fishing harbours would be set up in the State by 2014, he said.
The State has commenced works for setting up of drinking water project to address acute drinking water shortage faced by coastal residents.
Fisheries Minister K. Babu presided over the function. Rural Development Minister K. C. Joseph, P. Karunakaran, MP, P. B. Abdul Razak, MLA, District Collector P. S. Mohammed Sagir also spoke at the function.
The operation of the new harbour would help streamline fishing activities in north Kerala, which does not have a single harbour to cater to the heavy demand for fish products in the region.
The new harbour would be able to handle 400 fishing boats a day.
