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Perpetuating predicament : Backwater islanders await CRZ Integrated Island Management Plan - Kerala Islands CRZ-IIMP
Perpetuating predicament : Backwater islanders await CRZ Integrated Island Management Plan
Sherry J Thomas
sherryjthomas@gmail.com
Kerala’s coastal expanse
along the Arabian Sea extends to approximately 590 kilometres, from Kasaragod
in the north to Thiruvananthapuram in the south. Nevertheless, when the ambit
is enlarged to encompass backwaters—comprising estuaries, lagoons, and fluvial
interconnections—which indisputably fall within the purview of the Coastal
Regulation Zone (CRZ), the aggregate shoreline length escalates substantially.
As per the Kerala State Remote Sensing and Environment Centre (KSREC), the
cumulative perimeter of these inland water bodies approximates 2,300
kilometres.
The Environment
(Protection) Act, 1986 (EPA) vests plenary powers in the Union Government to
undertake such measures as are necessary to safeguard and ameliorate
environmental conditions. Invoking Section 3(1) thereof, the Government assumed
jurisdiction to protect coastal and marine ecosystems, culminating in the
issuance of the CRZ Notification under Sections 3(1) and 3(2)(v) of the said
enactment.
When the first CRZ
Notification of 1991 was promulgated, neither the island communities nor the
dominant political formations envisaged the magnitude of embargoes it would
impose upon traditional habitation rights, particularly with respect to the construction
of dwelling houses within regulated precincts. Subsequently, in 2011, a revised
CRZ Notification introduced marginal
concessions. Later, pursuant to the recommendations of the Shailesh Nayak
Committee and after exhaustive stakeholder consultations, additional
relaxations were incorporated into the CRZ Notification, 2019.
Notwithstanding these
normative advancements, the Coastal Zone Management Plan (CZMP) was finalised
only in October 2024. However the Integrated Island Management Plan
(IIMP)—envisaged to attenuate the No Development Zone along backwater margins
from 50 metres to 20 metres—remains unimplemented. Consequently, the
anticipated 20-metre dispensation is not yet available for Kerala’s backwater
dwellers.
Proposed
relaxations for backwater islands in CRZ 2019
The
rigour of restrictions in No Development Zone in backwater islands along
mainland coast is reduced in the present CRZ Notification. The clause 10.2 of
CRZ Notification 2019 read so –
CRZ
for inland backwater islands and islands along mainland coast:
(i) All the inland
islands in the coastal backwaters and islands along the mainland coast shall also
be covered under this notification
(ii) In view of the
unique coastal systems of backwater islands and islands along the mainland coast,
along with space limitations in such coastal stretches, CRZ of 20 meters
from the HTL on the landward side shall uniformly apply to such islands and
activities shall be regulated as under:-
(a) existing dwelling
units of local communities may be repaired or reconstructed within 20 meters
from the HTL of these islands, however, no new construction shall be permitted in
this zone.
(b) foreshore facilities,
such as fishing jetty, fish drying yards, net mending yard, fishing processing
by traditional methods, boat building yards, ice plant, boat repairs and the like,
may be taken up in CRZ limits subject to due environmental safeguards.
(iii) Integrated Island
Management Plans (IIMPs), as applicable to smaller islands in Lakshadweep and
Andaman & Nicobar, as per Island Protection Zone Notification, 2011 number
S.O. 20(E), dated the 6th January, 2011, shall be formulated by respective
States or Union territory for all such islands and submitted to Ministry of
Environment, Forest and Climate Change and till the IIMPs are framed,
provisions of this notification shall not apply and the CZMP as per provisions
of CRZ Notification 2011 number S.O. 19(E), dated the 6th January,
2011, shall continue to apply.
Although the current CRZ
Notification came into force on 18th January 2019, the Integrated
Island Management Plan (IIMP), mandated to operationalize specific relaxations
for backwater islands, has yet to be framed by the State of Kerala. In the
absence of this plan, the restrictions stipulated under the erstwhile CRZ
Notification 2011, continue to govern these areas, leaving backwater islanders
at a distinct disadvantage.
The reclassification of
certain areas from CRZ-III to CRZ-II brought substantial relief to 66 Gram
Panchayats in Kerala, allowing construction on the landward side of existing
authorized structures and roads. However, despite 175 Panchayats being proposed
for category change, only 66 were approved, as they alone met the requisite
conditions at the time of the CRZ 2019 Notification’s publication. Litigations
challenging the exclusion of the remaining Panchayats are currently pending
adjudication, underscoring the continuing uncertainty and legal contestation
surrounding the implementation of these relaxations.
Caught in Bureaucratic
Limbo
The greater the
influence, the swifter the benefits flow. Unfortunately, this axiom holds true
in the case of Kerala’s coastal dwellers. The majority of people inhabiting the
shoreline are traditional fishing communities with limited bargaining power and
little access to decision-making corridors. For them, the prolonged delay in
finalizing the Integrated Island Management Plan (IIMP) has translated into
years of regulatory uncertainty and developmental stagnation.
What is particularly
disheartening is the apparent indifference of mainstream political formations,
for whom this delay has never evolved into a matter of serious political
discourse. While the promise of CRZ 2019 offered hope of relief, the ground
reality remains one of inertia—where those without influence continue to wait
endlessly for rights already recognized on paper.
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