The city corporation has been tasked with the labourious process to clear over 60 applications for construction of dwellings in Coastal Regulation Zone-2 (CRZ-2) after the district-level coastal zone management committee (DCZMC) has deferred majority of applications for the scrutiny by corporation secretary.
A recent DCZMC meeting considered 85 applications under corporation limits of which only 24 applications were granted permission, one was rejected and rest were deferred citing that secretary has to report whether authorized buildings or roads (as on 1996) exist on seaward side of the construction.
The regional town planner will also have to take a decision accordingly. Even in applications which were granted clearance by DCZMC, the secretary has been asked to ensure whether the construction is outside no-development zone (NDZ).
As for Varkala municipality, 12 applications were granted permission out of 18 applications received. The 103rd meeting of Kerala coastal zone management authority (KCZMA) had directed that the district-level committee shall continue to function as per CRZ notification 2011.
KCZMA has earlier issued proceedings by which district-level committees are permitted to issue clearance for residential buildings having plinth area up to 250sq.m. District-level committees can permit residential buildings if they fall on the landward side of existing road or on the landward side of the existing authorized structures in CRZ-2. The applications are considered based on coastal zone management plan (CZMP) prepared in accordance with CRZ notification 2011.
At present, the district-level committee cannot execute provisions as per CRZ notification 2019 since CZMP made as per the notification of 2019 has to be cleared by ministry of environment and climate change (MoEF&CC).
It was in February 2019 that MoEF&CC approved CZMP of Thiruvananthapuram along with nine other districts based on recommendations of the national coastal zone management authority and technical scrutiny committee held at National Centre for Sustainable Coastal Management. The district-level committee has district collector as chairman and regional town planner as member secretary. Panchayat deputy director and two other members are part of the committee.
Officials said that DCZMC is being circumspect in the wake of events in Maradu. “The last meeting of KCZMA had also directed district-level committees to present clearance issued by DCZMC in front of KCZMA. This might also have led to DCZMC deferring decisions,” said an official.
The corporation will now have to ascertain whether authorized structures as mandated by CRZ notification 2011 existed as in 1996. “Scrutiny of maps, tax receipts and other ownership records are various ways by which this has to be done. The corporation will have to process each application carefully and even for those applications which were granted, cross-checking will have to be done which places added responsibility on the civic body,” officials said.
While submitting its recommendations for draft CZMP, corporation had suggested that it would be essential to include corporation engineer and secretary in the district-level committee for CRZ rules headed by district collector.
