KOCHI: The report of the expert committee constituted by the state government to examine and resolve critical issues and promote development of coastal areas under the Coastal Zone Management Plan 2019, prepared under the Coastal Regulation Zone (CRZ) notification, has triggered a controversy.
Environmentalists and fishermen community have raised concerns over its recommendations and they plan to approach the Supreme Court against the same.
The key recommendations of the committee headed by additional chief secretary V Venu with PZ Thomas and P B Sahasranaman as members include a proposal to reclassify 340.10 sq km of coastal land classified under CRZ III to CRZ II to allow development works.
"The Kerala government has notified 175 coastal panchayats as urban areas. The Kerala Coastal Zone Management Authority should consider reclassifying these urban areas as CRZ II areas, which will generate large employment opportunities and revenue for the state," says the report.
Another recommendation is to reclassify 71.85 sq km of pokkali fields and low-lying agricultural land under CRZ II or CRZ III. Such re-classification will enable the local communities to construct houses and carry out economic activities for their livelihood, the report said.
The third important recommendation is to relocate small patches of mangroves with less than 50 sq m area to an identified mangrove land bank. Mangroves in government lands which are having a total extent of 1,000 sq m be categorised as CRZ-I(A).
The buffer zone of 50m is required only where the mangrove vegetation is within government-owned land. No buffer is required in private land holdings, says the report.
"The recommendations, if implemented, will displace the fishermen community and open the coastal areas for real estate groups. Declaring coastal panchayats as town panchayats will lead to unbridled development. Mangroves is an ecosystem that protects the shore and provide breeding grounds for commercial marine species. The proposal to relocate mangroves is foolish," said scientist and environmentalist Dr KV Thomas.
"The recommendations have been made by an expert panel which has no experts. The report gives importance to development and has ignored the environmental aspect. In my opinion, the no-development zone in the coastal areas should be protected while ensuring the livelihood of fishermen," said former president of Kerala Sasthra Sahitya Parishad, a people's science movement promoted by the CPM.
"They have infringed on the very purpose of the CRZ notification. The panel considered how to divert the no-development zone ignoring the environmental aspects. We had 70,000 hectares of mangrove forests in Kerala which have shrunken to less than 50 hectares. The proposal to relocate mangroves will lead to the complete destruction of the ecosystem," he added.
"Another proposal is to reclaim the pokkali fields. We had 20,000 hectares of pokkali fields which have shrunken to 3,000 hectares," said Kerala University of Fisheries and Ocean Studies (KUFOS) founder vice-chancellor Dr B Madhusoodana Kurup.