New Delhi: The Ministry of Environment, Forests, and Climate Change under the Union Government has approved the Coastal Zone Management Plan (CZMP), which introduces relaxations in construction limits along Kerala's sea and backwater shores. This move provides coastal local bodies across the state with more flexibility to undertake development projects and other construction activities.
A notification revising the guidelines from the 2011 CZMP is expected within a week. The new plan is based on the CRZ (Coastal Regulation Zone) notification issued by the Centre in January 2019. Under the new guidelines, the construction regulation zone in most areas except for panchayats with a low-density population will be reduced to 50 meters. However, the 500-meter restriction for commercial construction remains unchanged.
Both urban bodies and gram panchayats will benefit from these relaxed regulations under the new plan.
Though it took the state five and a half years to formulate, Kerala's success in getting nearly all of its major demands approved—including the reclassification of 66 panchayats from CRZ-I to CRZ-II-marks a significant achievement. The State Coastal Management Authority drafted the revised plan after thorough processes, such as public hearings and field visits by expert committees, before submitting it to the Centre. With the new plan expected to be implemented within a month, the 2011 CRZ notification and its associated regulations will become obsolete.
The revised plan will impact 245 panchayats, 35 municipalities, and five corporations across the state. It will classify the entire coastal zone into distinct areas based on the 2011 population census.
Key regulations
According to the 2019 notification, coastal zones are classified into various Coastal Regulation Zones (CRZ), namely 1A, 1B, 2, 3A, 3B, 4A, and 4B. Zones with human habitation fall under CRZ-2, 3A, and 3B.
- Buffer Zones, or Non-Development Zones (NDZ), are areas along the coast where construction activities face regulatory constraints. Under the new CZMP, each region will have its own designated buffer zone.
- Zone 2:Applicable to municipalities, where no distance regulations exist for construction. Construction can take place on the land of roads or buildings established before 1991. Buffer zone regulations do not apply here.
- Zone 3A: The buffer zone limit of 200 meters from the High Tide Line along sea and backwater shores is reduced to 50 meters.
- Zone 3B: The 200-meter buffer zone from the High Tide Line along the sea remains unchanged. However, the buffer zone for backwaters is reduced to 50 meters from 100 meters.
- BackwaterIslands (having an area of 10 hectares): The buffer zone is reduced from 50 meters to 20 meters.
- Small Water Bodies: The buffer zone extends up to 50 meters from the High TideLine.
- Port Areas: Zones declared ports or as part of ports are exempt from buffer zone regulations.
Major changes
- For areas along the backwaters and rivers with high salinity, the existing regulation zone of 100 meters has been reduced to 50 meters. Similarly, the buffer zone along the sea coast has been reduced from 200 meters to 50 meters.
- Mangrove forests on private land are now exempt from buffer zone demarcation.
- However, if government land contains mangrove forests exceeding 1,000 square meters, a 50-meter buffer zone must be established.
- Fields of Pokkali rice or Kaippad fields where bunds constructed before 1999 will be considered as High Tide Line, and regulations will apply only within that area.
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