CHENNAI: The southern bench of the National Green Tribunal (NGT) has ordered the Tamil Nadu Tourism Development Corporation Limited (TTDC) to demolish the tourist facilities it had built without consent on the banks of the Tazhuthali Kuppam estuary in Mudaliyarkuppam village of Chengalpattu district.
Two fishermen, Kannappan and Panner, had petitioned the tribunal stating that TTDC was building compound walls, toilets and huts with concrete flooring without any permission inside the intertidal zone, classified as CRZ-1B (no development zone) as per Coastal Zone Management Plan. The area is ecologically sensitive as it is an important Olive Ridley turtle nesting site, besides having rich mangroves and seagrass beds.
The fishing community contended it uses larger fishing nets and would require the entire beachfront for fishing. For this reason, the beach cannot be converted into a tourist spot, it argued. The NGT had issued notices to the Tamil Nadu State Coastal Zone Management Authority (TNSCZMA) and TTDC. In response, TNSCZMA member secretary Deepak S Bilgi said neither his office nor the district coastal zone management had received any application from TTDC seeking CRZ clearance under CRZ Notification, 2011 and recommended action be taken.
‘Take down structures built sans approval’
MR Gokul Krishnan, who appeared for TTDC, also conceded that the construction of toilets and compound walls had been undertaken without any proper clearance and consented to the demolition.
Taking the submissions of all the parties on record, the NGT bench, consisting of judicial member Justice Pushpa Sathyanarayana and expert member K Satyagopal, ordered TTDC to remove the constructions made without approval.
“The existing thatched huts with concrete flooring can exist but further permanent structures cannot be put up. Any intended construction can be done only after getting clearance from Coastal Zone Management Authority as per the CRZ Notification, 2011,” said the order, dated April 28.