Latest news with #CZMP
Time of India
a day ago
- General
- Time of India
Goa plans to set up board to revive khazan land, will override TCP Act
Panaji: Faced with depleting land use, state govt has recommended setting up a board to revive the khazan land. The board's decision on land use will be final and will override the Regional Plan, ODPs and other land use policies, except the Goa Land Use Act of 1991, which will continue to apply to lands under agricultural tenancy, as these are also outside the scope of the TCP Act, 1974. Tired of too many ads? go ad free now The Khazan Land Management Plan (KMP) is meant to preserve all farmland and improve food security by growing more rice, vegetables, and fish locally. It suggests surveying the land for cultivation or types of cultivation on existing active khazans and land left fallow. As per the recommendations, the khazan board or any similar agency govt chooses to set up, will manage all areas as zoned in four categories: K1 — low salinity, good for vegetables and second-season rice; K2 — moderate salinity, can grow salt-tolerant rice; K3 — high salinity, suitable for traditional rice, salt, and fish farming; and KH — highly degraded, mostly abandoned with mangrove growth. The department of environment and climate change will officially notify the formation of the khazan board and act as its secretariat. 'Once formed, the board will prepare the detailed KMP based on the CRZ 2011 notification and the approved Coastal Zone Management Plan (CZMP). The department will define the board's legal powers, structure, and responsibilities within six months. KMP will be reviewed and updated as per the CZMP and CRZ notification in force from time to time,' the recommendations said. The plan recommends conducting comprehensive soil mapping and salinity profiling across different khazan zones to assess soil health and productivity potential for determining suitable crop and aquaculture zones. Under the action plan, it is recommended to implement periodic water quality monitoring to measure parameters like salinity, pH, dissolved oxygen, nutrients, and heavy metal contamination to ensure safe aquaculture and agriculture practices. Tired of too many ads? go ad free now The aim is to promote desalination techniques, controlled tidal flushing, and freshwater irrigation to maintain soil fertility and improve agricultural productivity. 'It will also utilise bio-remediation techniques such as microbial consortia and organic amendments to enhance soil and water quality in consultation with ICAR and other institutes,' the plan said. A detailed study-cum-mapping is needed to understand the total khazan land and ownership, the status of sluice gates, salt pans, and bunds, functional tenants' associations and their activities over the past five years, auction details and earnings from fisheries, the total number of internal water bodies for the revival of khazan land, the plan said. Understanding the extent and distribution of salinity is crucial for the revival action plans for both sustainable agriculture and aquaculture. 'This data can be additionally verified as per ground truthing, including its status if degraded. Degraded lands which cannot be restored should be identified,' the plan said. To undertake GIS-based mapping, a pilot study for the identification of khazan lands using UAV-based LiDAR technology by involving local communities is recommended. Classification can be based on salinity levels, acidity levels, water retention capacity, and existing land use patterns, highly productive zones, degraded areas, and restoration sites, the plan said.
Hindustan Times
7 days ago
- Business
- Hindustan Times
Pending coastal maps delay 20 infra projects
Mumbai: As many as 20 infrastructure projects along the Konkan coastline including three passenger jetties in Thane and one in Mulund are stuck due to delays in issuance of Coastal Zone Management Plan (CZMP) maps by the Chennai-based National Centre for Sustainable Coastal Management (NCSCM). The state government has been awaiting maps from the agency for six months to a year in some cases, which has pushed up project costs significantly. Ports minister Nitesh Rane has raised the issue with union environment minister Bhupendra Yadav and the minister has directed the agency to issue the maps within a month. NCSCM is an autonomous research institute under the ministry of environment, forest and climate change. Eleven of the 20 proposed projects with a cumulative cost of ₹190.9 crore are located in the Mumbai Metropolitan Region (MMR). The remaining nine projects with a cumulative cost of ₹58.40 crore are located in Raigad, Ratnagiri and Sindhudurg districts. The delay in execution of the 20 projects due to pending CZMP maps was raised during a recent meeting of the ports department. The state government has paid the fees for the maps to NCSCM, but has been awaiting the maps for more than six months up to a year, officials said during the meeting. They also pointed out that last year, the central government withdrew around ₹220 crore from the funds given to the state government for development of port infrastructure as the money could not be utilised due to delays in project execution. On May 28, ports minister Nitesh Rane wrote to union environment minister Bhupendra Yadav regarding the delay in issuance of maps by NCSCM. 'Without CZMP maps, it is not possible to apply for Coastal Regulatory Zone (CRZ) and environmental clearance. Presently, NCSCM Chennai is taking about a year for preparation of maps, which is delaying CRZ and environmental clearance, and in turn delaying the execution of projects escalating project costs too,' Rane stated in the letter, urging the union minister to direct mapping agency to issue the maps within a month. 'I met the union minister personally and informed him about the projects which were delayed due to pending CZMP maps,' Rane told Hindustan Times. 'He called officials at the institute at Chennai immediately and ordered them to resolve the issue in a speedy manner.' Following Yadav's intervention, the state government had a meeting with NCSCM officials over video-conferencing to resolve the issue, said Rane. HT reached out to NCSCM for comments, but did not receive any response from the agency. Environmental activist D Stalin said CZMP maps are crucial to protecting the coastal ecology. 'The concept of ex post facto clearances has been struck down by the Supreme Court, so now, projects cannot commence without prior approval,' he said. 'Pressuring scientific agencies to finalise the maps hurriedly in a haphazard manner would only create further conflict before the judiciary.' Maharashtra has the maximum number of CRZ violations including due to fabrication of maps, he said, adding, 'This cannot continue.'
Time of India
25-05-2025
- General
- Time of India
‘Structures legal if they predate land's declaration as khazan'
Panaji: Goa Coastal Zone Management Authority (GCZMA) has said that henceforth coastal regulation zone (CRZ) norms will not be made applicable retrospectively to structures which have been existing on lands declared khazan areas in the Coastal Zone Management Plan, 2011. GCZMA said that the plan was notified only in 2022, while some structures on khazan lands have been in existence much before that. The coastal body had received a complaint from the general secretary of the tenants' association of Camarkhazan, Mapusa, alleging that an illegal construction of permanent nature was carried out on the khazan land of the Moira river. The association said that a bar and restaurant were being run from this structure. It was alleged that no permission was taken to convert the khazan land to carry out the construction. Based on the complaint, an inspection was carried out by GCZMA and it was found that the site is completely identified as khazan land as stipulated by the Coastal Zone Management Plan (CZMP), 2011. The authority noted that the land was declared a khazan area on Sep 7, 2022. 'With regards to the whole plot falling within the khazan land area, as per the CZMP 2011 as declared on Sep 7, 2022; these structures will not be affected as these structures were standing long before the area was declared as a khazan land,' GCZMA said. by Taboola by Taboola Sponsored Links Sponsored Links Promoted Links Promoted Links You May Like 축하드립니다! 임플란트 5월 할인 이벤트에 선정되셨습니다. 플란치과 더 알아보기 Undo 'This declaration in the CZMP 2011 on Sep 7, 2022, will now not apply retroactively to any structure existing before the area being declared as khazan land area.' The show-cause notice against the person who constructed the structure has been withdrawn. GCZMA also said that the person who constructed the structure had all the necessary permissions since 2018. 'The structures are outside the CRZ II area and since the structures are outside the mangrove buffer; this show-cause notice is dropped, as moreover, the respondent had earlier already obtained the necessary relevant permissions,' GCZMA said. Representative image
Time of India
06-05-2025
- General
- Time of India
Govt to coastal body: Let shacks, huts have swimming pools
Panaji: The tourism department has approached the Goa coastal zone management authority (GCZMA) seeking implementation of the revised beach carrying capacity report of state govt. The recommendations include allowing temporary structures such as beach shacks and private beach huts to have 50 sqm swimming pools, landscaping of open area with 'appropriate vegetation', and two-floor structures with a height of GCZMA has also been asked by the tourism department to include these recommendations in the draft coastal zone management plan, 2011.'During the process of public consultation, state govt has made the following recommendations which may be included in the draft CZMP report. 'Temporary structures in no development zone along the coast and along the bank of river/estuaries shall be permitted except in ecologically sensitive areas shown in CZMP plans with following conditions: Floor space index should not exceed 0.33, open area shall be suitably landscaped with appropriate vegetation cover, and the overall height of the temporary structure shall not exceed 9m and shall not be more than two floors (ground plus one). Swimming pool not exceeding 50 sqm in area shall be permitted',' the tourism department has told the GCZMA, however, after holding discussions at its meeting last month, has decided to call the tourism department for detailed the authority has also received a representation from the all Goa private property shack/hut owners' association and has decided to call the body too for GCZMA noted at its meeting that it has already granted permissions to the temporary structures in private land based on the recommendations made by the National Centre for Sustainable Coastal Management (NCSCM) in the beach carrying capacity report. This includes the exercise of geocoding all shacks and huts/tents/cottages in private areas to be undertaken by the GCZMA through an expert agency 'in order to monitor the area occupied'.The association has asked the GCZMA to consider all state govt recommendations like '33% FAR, 9m height with two floors with distance between structures 2-3m, and provision for a swimming pool of 50 sqm'.
