MoEF asks states to act against CRZ violators

The Ministry of Environment and Forests (MoEF) has asked the state governments and Union Territories (UTs) to identify violations of the Coastal Regulation Zone Notification of 1991 within four months and initiate action against violators.

Pointing out that scams such as Adarsh would not be condoned, the ministry said any laxity on part of the state governments in identifying the violators will not be acceptable since technologies such satellite imagery and information technology were available to detect violations of CRZ norms and also of Coastal Management Plans approved under them. These violations were punishable under the Environment (Protection) Act of 1986.

The ministry also directed them to upload relevant details of the identified violations, including action taken on the violations on their respective website, every fortnight.

Environment Minister Jairam Ramesh had recently recommended the demolition of the Adarsh society in Mumbai for violating the CRZ notification. The MoEF said the National Coastal Zone Management Authority would review the action taken by the state and UT Coastal Zone Management authorities and apprise it periodically.

The ministry said CRZ violations will not be tolerated on the ground that the new CRZ had been notified on January 6, “unless otherwise explicitly provided in these two notifications”.

Ramesh had observed that even though the new notification had been released, violations that took place in the past would not be condoned.