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Kochi: Three years ago, four skyscrapers were razed in Kochi Supreme Court Verdicted in May 2019 that buildings were constructed in violation Coastal Regulation Zone ,CRZ) Rule. The order to demolish the buildings had caused controversy as there was a lack of clarity in the exact coastal zone category in which these apartments fell.
The 2011 CRZ notification was superseded by a new set of rules in January 2019 and under the revised norms it may be completely legal to construct new buildings at the same location as they have increased the ‘no development’ zone by a factor of 10. reduced the need for What used to be 500 meters in a particular area is now 50 metres; 200 m has become 20 m.
Environmentalists are worried about this dilution of CRZ rules and its citizens Kerala who are caught in this web of rules having different applications in urban and rural areas.
to address their concerns, Kerala Coastal Zone Management Authority (KCZMA) was brought in to prepare a Coastal Zone Management Plan (CZMP) with maps detailing which area falls in the CRZ category and relevant restrictions.
Such a plan was prepared keeping in mind the 2019 notification and an expert committee headed by the then Additional Chief Secretary (Environment) V Venu studied the plan and submitted a report to the government in February 2022. The recommendations of the panel were accepted but even after a year the CZMP maps have not been published.
The term of the KCZMA expired in October 2022 and was not reconstituted.
While people seek clarity on the subject, some help comes in the form of a book.
PB Sahasramanam, a member of the expert committee, who is also a senior high court advocate and environmental expert, has documented the CRZ laws over the years and published the latest edition of his book “The Laws Relating to Protection of Coastal Areas” this month Will go
It contains full text of central laws relating to coastal areas and wetlands from 1991 to the latest. It also includes all the rules and notifications of the Government of Kerala on the subject and is also a compilation of all important State and SC judgments on Coastal Regulation.
(Anand Parthasarathy is a journalist who writes on technology and environment)
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