NEW DELHI: The proposed Marine Coastal Regulation Zone (MCRZ) notification prepared by the Centre relaxes existing norms by allowing temporary tourism facilities in ecologically sensitive areas in regulated coastal zones and reducing distance from the high tide line in rural areas for housing and basic infrastructure for local inhabitants.
The Ministry of Environment, Forests and Climate Change (MoEFCC) has shared the draft MCRZ Notification, 2017 that will replace the Coastal Regulation Zone (CRZ) Notification, 2011 under Right to Information application.
A copy of draft notification was accesses by Meenakshi Kapoor of the CPR-Namati Environment Justice Program. The draft notification proposes significant changes to the manner in which the coastal zones are to be managed and regulated for variety of activities.
The draft says temporary tourism facilities will be allowed in Ecologically Sensitive Areas (MCRZ I) while the CRZ Notification, 2011 does not allow temporary tourism facilities in CRZ I areas.
The proposed notification says that housing and basic infrastructure for local inhabitants will be allowed after 50 metres from the High Tide Line in rural areas (MCRZ III). The CRZ Notification, 2011 permitted houses for coastal communities after first 100 m of CRZ III areas.
On development in urban areas, (MCRZ II) is scheduled to be regulated as per prevailing local laws. The CRZ Notification 2011 allows development in CRZ II areas as per the town and country planning norms of 1991 and this was done to acknowledge the need of the local town and country planning norms to be aligned with Coastal Regulation Zone notification, which was issued for the first time in 1991.
It empowers the State and Union Territory Governments to prepare tourism plans for their respective MCRZ areas. No such tourism plans are mentioned in the CRZ Notification, 2011. Besides, area under MCRZ will depend only on tidal demarcations (High Tide Line (HTL) and Low Tide Line (LTL)). Whereas, the CRZ Notification, 2011 links the CRZ area with Hazard line in addition to HLT-LTL demarcation.
“Since 2014, the entire process of reviewing and revising the CRZ Notification, 2011 has been a closed-door exercise. Instead of the Ministry inviting suggestions and feedback from coastal communities, researchers, urban planners and legal experts on the implementation of the CRZ Notification and proposals for reform, there has been reluctance to share the details of this review,” according to the CPR-Namati Environment Justice Program.
For over a year and a half, despite repeated RTI applications, the report of the committee that reviewed the CRZ Notification, 2011 was not made public and four of the nine amendments made to the notification in the last three years were issued without seeking public comments on those.
The civil society group says that this file inspection revealed that even the ministries that were asked to provide comments on the MCRZ Notification on March 20, 2017 were also not provided full information related to the MCRZ, in particular the annexures.