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Hindustan Times
31-05-2025
- 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
