The notification has special provisions for Greater Mumbai, Goa and Kerala, and has identified Critically Vulnerable Coastal Areas (CVCAs) like the mangroves of Sunderban; Chilka and Bhitarkanika in Orissa; Gulf of Khambat and Gulf of Kutch in Gujarat; Malwan in Maharashtra; Karwar and Kundapur in Karnataka; Vembanad in Kerala; Coringa, East Godavari and Krishna Delta in Andhra Pradesh and the Gulf of Mannar in Tamil Nadu.
Other new features of this notification include the inclusion of 12 nautical miles of coastal waters and all coastal water bodies affected by tides such as creeks, rivers, estuaries etc without any restrictions on fishing within this zone; coastal zone management plans to be made after consultations with traditional coastal communities; a hazard line will be demarcated in the next five years; and a proposed mapping of the shoreline through time-series satellite images with no development in high erosion foreshore areas.
The reduction of the ‘no development' zone from 200 m to 100 m to meet increasing demands of housing for fishing and other traditional coastal communities; clear, time bound procedures for obtaining CRZ clearances were stipulated along with post-clearance monitoring and enforcement mechanisms, and measures to combat pollution in coastal areas. All violators of the CRZ 1991, barring fishermen families, will be identified and brought to the book in four months, under the new notification, says Jairam Ramesh, in a press release issued with this notification. Read the full report here.
Source: by John Thekkayya.
