Govt proposes to reduce restrictions on CRZ in 5 dists

The state government plans to reduce restrictions on development around creeks, riverine and bay areas from 100 to 50 meters in five coastal districts -- Palghar, Thane, Raigad, Ratnagiri and Sindhudurg -- thereby opening up opportunities for largescale real estate development in these land parcels

The state government plans to reduce restrictions on development around creeks, riverine and bay areas from 100 to 50 meters in five coastal districts -- Palghar, Thane, Raigad, Ratnagiri and Sindhudurg -- thereby opening up opportunities for largescale real estate development in these land parcels.

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The draft Coastal Zone Management Plan (CZMP), 2019, for the five districts was approved by chief minister Eknath Shinde on Thursday. It will now be sent to the union government for approval. This has been drafted as per the Coastal Regulation Zone (CRZ) notification, 2019, with the high tide and low tide lines demarcated by the National Centre for Sustainable Coastal Management, Chennai.

If all goes well, this move will give a fillip to the tourism sector. It will also enable fisherfolk and residents of gaothans abutting these areas to build and repair their old and traditional houses, and have them regularised. It is proposed that the local planning authority (like the municipal corporations) will be able to permit construction of residential structures up to 300 square meters.

Fisherfolk will be allowed activities such as drying fish, setting up fish markets, weaving nets and repairing boats, that are incidental to their traditional fishing business and way of life. Locals will also be able to start homestays and set up shacks.

In 2021, the Union Ministry of Environment, Forest and Climate Change had approved the CZMP for Mumbai city and suburbs, which reduced the restriction on development in creek and bay areas from 100 meters to 50 meters from the high tide line.

The move has vexed eco-warriors. “When you reduce the CRZ area, you increase the load on an already stressed ecosystem,” noted Stalin Dayanand of the NGO Vanashakti. “These five districts are much sought after destinations for investors. The livelihoods, independence and identity of the local villagers along the coastline are under threat now.”

Inter-tidal grass, salt lakes, marshland, sand dunes, have to be shown in the CZMP, stressed Dayanand, adding that the plan “fails miserably to show the inviolate area”.