NFF, KSMTF reject Draft CRZ notification Express News ServiceFirst Published : 21 Oct 2010
THIRUVANANTHAPURAM: The National Fish Workers Forum (NFF) and the Kerala Swathanthra Matsya Thozhilali Federation (KSMTF) rejected the draft Coastal Zone Regulation (CRZ) Notification-2010. In memorandums submitted to Ministry of Environment and Forest, President Pratibha Patil, Prime Minister Manmohan Singh and UPA Chairperson Sonia Ghandhi, they have listed out reasons for the rejection of the draft CRZ notification. Some of the reasons are: (1) The draft notification is only marginally different from the pre-draft, which was rejected by the fishing communities. (2) The NFF had strongly argued in favour of going back to the basics of the original 1991 notification, which was based on the fundamental principle that only those activities should be permitted in the CRZ, which require the waterfront and foreshore facilities. Unfortunately, the draft continues to legitimise all the activities, which do not have such a justification and have crept into the notification over the years. (3) In addition to retaining all past dilutions to the CRZ, the new draft also adds new activities that are permissible. Some of the new additions include ‘roads on stilts’,including in mangrove areas of CRZ-I. (4) An important suggestion to strengthen the CRZ is to look into cumulative impacts of permissible projects before according sanction to new projects. The Swaminathan Committee had recommended a cumulative impact study on ports and a moratorium till that is done. Unfortunately, the Ministry has not done any cumulative study and has come up with a peculiar formulation to permit ports in ‘stable coasts’ that are not subject to erosion. -- You received this message because you are subscribed to the Google Groups "Green Youth Movement" group. To post to this group, send an email to [email protected]. To unsubscribe from this group, send email to [email protected]. For more options, visit this group at http://groups.google.com/group/greenyouth?hl=en-GB.
