Coastal communities and advocacy groups campaigning for fishers’ rights have raised strong objection to the government move to replace the Coastal Regulation Zone (CRZ) notification, 2011 with a new enactment allowing land reclamation and diversion of coastal land for commercial use.
Fishermen’s organisations fear that the proposed notification based on the recommendations of the Shailesh Nayak committee, set up by the Ministry of Environment, Forests and Climate Change (MoEFCC) to review the CRZ norms, would lead to uncontrolled development, impacting on the marine and coastal ecology and jeopardising their livelihood.
The National Fishworkers Forum (NFF) has condemned any move to dilute the CRZ 2011 notification. NFF general secretary T.Peter said the forum would spearhead a nationwide agitation against the proposed notification.
The NFF executive which met at New Delhi on March 31 called on the government to recognise the rights of the fishermen community over coastal land and ensure their livelihood security while making changes to existing rules.
It also stressed the need to take the community into confidence on the proposed changes.
The Kerala Swathantra Matsya Thozhilali Federation alleged that the move to dilute the CRZ norms would lead to large-scale reclamation and appropriation of coastal land by the construction and tourism lobbies. The federation also fears that the new notification would regularise the violations of CRZ norms.
The Shailesh Nayak committee had recommended lifting of the curbs on housing and slum redevelopment in CRZ 2 and tourism in CRZ 3 areas. It also proposed the reclamation of the seabed in CRZ 4 areas for ports and harbours, and other infrastructure required in the larger public interest such as bridges, sea-links, roads, coastal security installations and tourism.
According to a series published by the Centre for Policy Research (CPR) - Namati Environmental Justice Programme, opening up the coasts for more commercial and tourism projects would mean bigger costs and risks for the fishing and coastal communities whose lives and livelihoods are closely tied to the ecological health of the coast and unrestricted access to common spaces like beaches and estuaries.
The document points out that the failure to engage stakeholders in framing the new regulations would spell the end of an era of participatory coastal planning.
