Fishermen under the aegis of the Kerala Matsya Thozhilali Aikya Vedi have appealed to the government to leverage the CRZ norms to the advantage of fishermen and traditional coastal settlers. The union alleged that the State government appeared to be leading a bid to sabotage the norms to alienate the coastal dwellers and fisherfolk, placing their livelihood in grave danger.
The State has submitted a draft of the Coastal Regulation Zone to the Union government with Cabinet approval. The State requested the Union to transfer 175 coastal villages from CRZ III to CRZ II category. Sixty-six villages have already been placed under the CRZ II category and the State wants the remaining 109 villages to be brought under the same urban category.
This will only help the real estate and tourism lobby while not addressing the demand of fishermen for creating a situation in which they can build their homes, said Charles George of Matsya Thozhilali Aikya Vedi here on Tuesday.
When CRZ norms were notified in 1991, it was widely accepted by the coastal residents as a step towards protecting their rights and livelihood. The coastal residents had demanded that rules regulating building houses should be included in the notification.
However, the State government did not prepare a settlement plan for Kerala leveraging the concessions extended to the State as was done in the other States. Even when the CRZ was revised in 2019, a settlement plan was not prepared, alleged Mr. George.
Public hearings were held by Fisheries Minister Saji Cherian and officials in different parts of coastal Kerala on preparing a Kerala specific plan in the light of the 2019 notification. The committee recommended that fishermen and coastal residents should be given special concessions. But there were assertions that the State’s coast should be brought under CRZ II, alleged Mr. George. This was to help various lobbies eyeing the coastal areas, he claimed.
Twisting the CRZ norms would be slowly exiling the fisherfolk and traditional coastal residents from their original habitat on the coast and, under these circumstances, the government must take the first step to utilise concessions under the CRZ for the benefit of the fishermen and coastal residents and abandon plans that would accentuate the impact of natural disasters, he added.
Published - August 20, 2024 06:47 pm IST
