KOCHI: Amidst the Maradu flat demolition fiasco, the Ministry of Environment, Forest and Climate Change (MoEFCC) has reconstituted the Kerala Coastal Zone Management Authority (KCZMA), almost five months after the tenure of the previous authority ended on June 9.
The reconstituted KCZMA will have a three-year term starting October 30. The state government had sent the list of the new 13-member expert panel to the Centre in September last year. The Centre approved the same on October 30 (Wednesday). The tenure of the previous KCZMA, which was formed in 2016, had ended on June 9.
Besides the principal secretary, environment – who is the KCZMA chairman – and director, Directorate of Environment and Climate Change (member-secretary), the principal secretaries of Local Self Governments (LSGD), Industries, Forest and Wildlife, Fisheries, Revenue, Urban Affairs or their nominees constitute the revamped authority.
The experts include Dinesan Cheruvat, director, National Institute of Fisheries, Administration and Management (NIFAM); P K Thulasidas, senior scientist and head (retired) Wood Science and Technology Division; and Richard Scaria, assistant professor, Department of Geography, Government College, Chittur.
Amritha Satheesan, assistant professor, Mar Gregorious College of Law, Nalanchira, Thiruvananthapuram, is the legal expert while Chandanathil Pappachan Geevan has been included as member of non-governmental organisation. In the absence of a full-fledged KCZMA, the government had handed over several tasks to the director of the environment department. Many experts had criticised the delay in KCZMA’s reconstitution in the wake of the Supreme Court order to raze the Maradu highrises for violating Coastal Regulation Zone norms.