KOCHI: The National Fishworkers Forum (NFF) & Kerala Swathanthra Matsya Thozhilaly Federation (KSMTF) are getting ready to organise continuous protests in all coastal states of the country which come under the Coastal Regulation Zone (CRZ) 2010, from October 29.
Rejecting the draft CRZ notification in toto, they said that it is only marginally different from the pre-draft which was rejected by the fishing communities.
“It has failed to stick to the mandate given by the Swaminathan Committee and has only further tampered with the CRZ 1991 and accommodated other interests,” KSMTF president T Peter said.
In a memorandum to the President, the Prime Minister, Congress president Sonia Gandhi and Environment Minister Jairam Ramesh, the NFF urged them to protect the fishing community.
“We had strongly argued in favour of going back to the basics of the original 1991 notification that was based on the principle that only activities that require the waterfront and foreshore facilities should be permitted in the CRZ.
Unfortunately, the draft continues to legitimise all activities which do not have such a justification and have crept into the notification over the years,” Peter said.
An important suggestion to strengthen the CRZ was to look into impacts of permissible projects before according sanction to new projects. The Swaminathan Committee recommended a cumulative impact study of ports and ordered a moratorium until the study was completed.
The memorandum said the Ministry has not done any cumulative study and has permitted ports in ‘stable coasts that are not subject to erosion’.
The concessions given for housing of coastal communities in the backwater islands in Kerala seem to make no sense as problems of its coastal dwellers do not lie in backwater islands, which are mainly uninhabited or tourist destinations.
Another danger posed by the section on special considerations is that concessions in housing are provided for local residents or coastal communities.
This may mean the eventual ousting of the fishing communities from the coast by others with better means.
Another gripe is about the hazard line concept. While the government and scientific institutions are welcome to work on studying the possible impact of sea-level rise and coastline changes, it is unacceptable that a line, which most are uncertain about where it will fall, is going to be drawn.
