‘Withdraw flawed coastal management plan’

Fishermen and environmental activists across Tamil Nadu on Tuesday demanded that the state government withdraw the Coastal Zone Management Plan (CZMP), uploaded for public consultation, as it is incomplete and did not adhere to the guidelines mentioned in the CRZ Notifications of 2011. They threatened state-wide protest unless a complete and inclusive CZMP is uploaded for consultation. 

“This is not a plan. It’s a vague map,” said environmentalist Nityanand Jayaraman, pointing out that the crucial Hazard Line has not been marked in the uploaded maps titled as ‘coastal management plan’ on the state environment department’s website. 

“The Hazard Line denotes the limit till which the sea’s impacts will be felt inland. This should be drawn based on predicted sea level rise, tidal action, wave action and extreme weather events. The area between the Hazard Line and the High Tide Line (HTL) is a restricted development area. By not marking the hazard line, the plan is meaningless,” said the activist. 

K Saravanan, a fisherman from Urur Kuppam, said that the 1996 Coastal Zone Management Plan (CZMP), is compliant with the CRZ Notifications but the current one fails to adhere to the stipulations. He added, “The documents uploaded are in contempt of two orders by the National Green Tribunal (NGT) which directed the government to conduct public consultations only after publishing complete plans in accordance with the guidelines set out in the CRZ Notification, 1991.” 

“The maps uploaded don’t present any long-term housing plan for fisherfolk, as mandated by the Notification. The livelihood spaces of fishermen on coastal commons or their fishing grounds within rivers and seas have not been highlighted. In 2013, the TN government uploaded a similar, incomplete document for public consultation, which irked the fishing community and the hearings were nullified by the NGT,” said Saravanan. 

The state’s coastal management plan also removed key tidal zones such as mud-flats, salt marshes and salt pans from the CRZ maps in places like Ennore and Kanyakumari. According to fishermen, this  has exposed the government’s intention to open vulnerable coastal wetlands to commercial projects. Thomas Franco, who represented the fishermen of Kanyakumari, said, “There are some ulterior motives behind the move. In Kanyakumari district, near Kovalam and Manakudi villages, protests are going on against the upcoming port as a part of the Sagarmala project.” 

He added, “The new plan will destroy all salt pans in the locality. During Ockhi cyclone, the salt pans played a crucial role in containing the water, thus reduced water entering the residential areas. In the new map, the salt pans have not been notified in the new map, which can lead to destruction.” 

R Srinivasan, a fisherman from Ennore, said, “The maps are in English and cannot be discerned by a large number of people who do not know the language.” The fishermen said that they would conduct state-wide protests, if the government does not withdraw these maps. “We want the government to prepare a coastal zone management plan as per the guidelines and then put it up for public consultation,” said Saravanan.