CHENNAI: Tamil Nadu State Coastal Zone Management Authority (TNSCZMA) submitted before the southern bench of the National Green Tribunal that draft Coastal Zone Management Plans (CZMPs) were revised and ready to be put in the public domain for comments and suggestions.
The authority said it would file an affidavit in this regard by two weeks and sought the tribunal’s approval to publish the draft notification and proceed with the public hearings. The green bench will hear the matter on July 23.
For the state government, having an approved plan is critical as it is working on implementing the ambitious Tamil Nadu Sustainably Harnessing Ocean Resources and Blue Economy (TN-SHORE), also known as Tamil Nadu Coastal Restoration Mission, launched recently by Chief Minister M K Stalin, with the assistance from the World Bank. The government also has the Rs 100-crore Chennai shoreline re-nourishment and revitalisation project, covering a 30-km stretch between Marina and Kovalam.
The CZMPs should be prepared as per the guidelines mentioned in the CRZ Notification, 2019. However, they were found ‘incomplete’. Recently, the NGT directed the TNSCZMA to correct the CZMPs incorporating the long-term housing plans for coastal communities.
The guidelines mandate states and union territories prepare detailed plans for long-term housing needs of fishing communities living along the coast, in view of expansion and other needs, provisions of basic services including sanitation, safety, and disaster preparedness.
However, the last draft CZMP maps published by the state on the Department of Environment website for public hearing omitted this crucial aspect. This was not the first time, as the CZMPs prepared under CRZ Notification, 2011, also had similar omissions.
The Madras High Court and the NGT had previously directed the TNSCZMA to correct the maps, but no steps were taken. TNIE published several articles highlighting these discrepancies.
South Indian Fishermen Welfare Association president K Bharathi told TNIE, “To our knowledge, long-term housing needs of fishing communities are not added to the draft CZMPs as no consultation meetings were conducted. If the government rushes with an incomplete plan, we will launch a massive agitation.”