more-in The Draft Coastal Zone Management Plans (CZMP) prepared by the National Centre for Sustainable Coastal Management, a government-authorised agency, was released on Monday and published on the website of the Tamil Nadu environment department (http://tnenvis.nic.in) inviting comments in writing from various institutions, the public and NGOs by April 6, 2018. The plan has been prepared in accordance with the 2011 Coastal Regulation Zone (CRZ) notification, a release said. The plans, covering 13 coastal districts of the State, provide details of the High Tide Line, defined as the line on the coastal land up to which the highest water line reaches during the spring tide, demarcate areas for housing and other infrastructure on the coast and map coastal ecosystem, such as mangroves, salt marshes, tidal flats, coral reefs, and so on. Senior officials in the State environment department told The Hindu that the earlier CZMP prepared according to the 1991 CRZ notification did not include any element of scientific survey, however, the 2011 CRZ notification mandated a scientific survey to determine the various requisite demarcations on the map intended for physical verification. However, details on the variations between the maps drawn up based on 1991 notification and the 2011 notification were not forthcoming. Commercial interests abound Some environmental activists who had quickly perused the maps on Monday were already concerned that the new maps might be more influenced by commercial interests eyeing coastal development than environmental considerations. “The government’s High Tide Line doesn’t obey the moon but only what commercial interests dictate,” observed activist Nityanand Jayaraman. Noting that the maps gave incomplete information and comparisons between the old CZMP and new plans were missing, he said the revised draft CZMP was geared towards protecting errant officials of the Coastal Zone Management Authority from the ire of the National Green Tribunal, rather than protecting the coast and coastal communities. He further rued that the documents uploaded in the Environment Department’s website did not present any information clearly identifying authorised construction within CRZ areas, present long-term housing plans for fisherfolk, identifying the hazard line and spelling out prospective plans for the CRZ area. Jesu Rathinam of the Coastal Action Network said they would be organising a detailed discussion on February 24 to determine if there were any discrepancies in the new map and provide feedback to the government.. “In 2011, the CRZ notification only helped legalise the violations that were done based on the earlier plan of 1991 notification. We want to ensure action is taken against violations this time.”

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