After the laborious preparation of the Coastal Zone Management Plan (CZMP), which will influence development activities in coastal districts, coastal States, including Kerala, may now have to redraw the document following the notification of a new Coastal Regulation Zone approved by the Centre.
The Central government last week approved the Coastal Regulation Zone (CRZ) notification, 2018 when the CZMP prepared by Kerala was awaiting approval.
The preparation of the CZMP, which once approved, will dictate the development patterns along the coast, was a long-drawn affair and it took several nudging from the National Green Tribunal and the Supreme Court for the States to prepare the document.
The Kerala document took almost three years to be prepared after a series of deliberations involving stakeholders, including coastal ecosystem management specialists, builders, fishermen, and coastal communities.
The National Centre for Earth Science Studies, Thiruvananthapuram, was assigned the task of preparing the document.
The public hearing organised on the draft document had witnessed unruly scenes and protests in some districts.
The CRZ 2018 notification, said Veena Madhavan, member secretary of the Kerala Coastal Zone Management Authority, was approved soon after the State submitted the CZMP for its 10 coastal districts. After the CRZ notification, 2018, being published as a gazette notification, Kerala may have to revise the document, she said.
She said the procedures to be followed for the revision would be known only when the gazette notification was published. There would also be a guideline for the States to follow.
At the same time, experts involved in the preparation of the earlier CZMP said Kerala may have to introduce changes in the CRZ 3 A category, which deals with panchayats having population density of 2,161 per sq km.
According to available information, the No Development Zone (NDZ) has been reduced to 50 metres from the High Tide Line against the earlier 200 metres in CRZ 3 A, permitting more construction towards the seaward side. The NDZ has also been reduced for backwater islands in CRZ 3, which also have to be reflected in the CZMP, said K.K. Ramachandran, former member secretary of the authority.
There may not be any changes in the CRZ categories 1, 2 and 4, he added.
