Coastal protection rules to be diluted: Bonanza for tourism, realty sectors

Ecotourism projects, link roads, coastal roads would now be allowed in ecologically sensitive areas

The National Democratic Alliance (NDA) government is preparing to overhaul the environmental regulations which protect the 7,500-km coastal belt from overdevelopment and exploitation.

In a bonanza, particularly for the tourism and real estate sectors, the draft proposes easing several key provisions to allow development activity on the coasts. A copy of the draft, under the final stage of inter-ministerial consultations, was accessed under the Right to Information Act by Delhi-based CPR-Namati Environment Justice Program and reviewed by Business Standard. 

The draft would be put out for mandatory public consultations once inputs from other ministries have been considered, said a government official. Another official said while the government was keen to make the changes quickly, it was eventually decided that public consultations would be essential before notifying the rules.

The coastal protection rules were notified as subordinate legislation under the Environment Protection Act, 1986, and only require an executive decision and no approval from Parliament. The existing regulations, called the Coastal Regulatory Zone Notification, control activities on the seaside up to 12 nautical miles and up to 500 metres on the landward side from the high tide line. 

It also regulates development between the 500-m line and the hazard line (the latter demarcates areas that are vulnerable to sea level rise and other climate change effects). This is done by dividing the regulated area into ecologically sensitive areas (CRZ-I), urban areas (CRZ-II), rural areas (CRZ-III) and water areas (CRZ-IV). The first 200 m of CRZ-III is demarcated as a no development zone, or NDZ, to ensure the rural coastline remains protected. The proposed rules, called the “Marine and Coastal Regulation Zone” notification, in part permits much greater development activity in these zones.

Mining of sand and rocks would be banned but of rare minerals, hydrocarbons and other minerals would be permitted starting from 100 m beyond the high tide line or below the low tide line, according to the draft.

Ecotourism projects, link roads, coastal roads and sewage treatment plants would be allowed in ecologically sensitive areas. These are strictly banned under existing environmental rules. In urban areas in the protective zone, the town and country plans developed by state authorities would decide what can be built, after a nod from the environment ministry. Under the existing rules, the town and country planning norms had been frozen at the 1991 levels, when coastal regulations were first imposed.

The environment ministry proposes to shrink the NDZ in the rural coastal areas to 50 m from 200 m from the high tide line. Temporary tourism facilities would be permitted in this shrunk zone. Housing and basic infrastructure facilities for local inhabitants will be allowed under the proposed rules after 50 metres from the high tide line. This was earlier permitted only for houses after the first 100 metres.

The coastal protection zone for islands would be reduced from 500 m from the high tide line to 20 m. In Kerala’s backwaters, this zone extended to 50 m from the high tide line. It too will now have only a 20-m protective zone, according to the draft.

The environment ministry did not provide the annexures included in the draft of new rules. The annexures hold more critical information that would decide how flexible the new regulations would be and which areas were particularly being targeted for tourism development.

For example, the draft rules read, “In view of tremendous potential for beach and island tourism the coastal states shall prepare a tourism development plan…” But these plans are to be developed in accordance with guidelines in a particular annexure that the environment ministry did not share either under RTI or with other ministries, notes the think tank. The ministry has even drawn up a tentative list of beaches and tourism zones to be developed across the country. 

This list, also an annexure to the proposed rules, was not shared but the draft notes that the tourism zones along the coast would be that which the tourism ministry recommends.