Why in news?
The draft Coastal Regulation Zone (CRZ), 2018 was recently released by the Ministry of Environment and Forests (MoEF).
What are the key features?
- HTL - The High Tide Line (HTL) shall be demarcated by the National Centre for Sustainable Coastal Management (NCSCM).
- This shall be reckoned as a universal standard for the HTL for all regulatory purposes under notification, 2018.
- Hazard line - Hazard line mapping will be carried out by Survey of India.
- However, the Hazard Line has been delinked from the CRZ regulatory regime.
- It shall be used only as a tool for Disaster Management and planning of adaptive and mitigation measures.
- CRZ - CRZ limits on land along the tidal influenced water bodies has been proposed to be reduced.
- It would be reduced from 100 meters or the width of the creek to 50 meters or the width of the creek, whichever is less
- NDZ - A No Development Zone (NDZ) of 20 meters has been proposed.
- This will be stipulated for all Islands close to the main land coast and for all Backwater Islands in the main land.
- CRZ-III - For CRZ-III areas, two separate categories have been proposed.
- These are CRZ-III A and CRZ-III B.
- CRZ-III A comprises areas that have population density of 2161 per sq km as per 2011 Census.
- These will have NDZ of 50 meters from the HTL as against 200 meters stipulated in the CRZ Notification, 2011.
- CRZ-III B comprises rural areas with population density of below 2161 per sq km as per 2011 Census.
- CRZ-III B areas shall continue to have an NDZ of 200 meters from the HTL.
- Procedure - The procedure for CRZ clearances has been simplified.
- Delegations for recommending/according CRZ clearances to the projects/activities have been made at various levels.
- Only such projects/activities, which are located in the CRZ-I & IV areas, shall be dealt with for clearance by the MoEFCC.
- For all other project activities in CRZ-II/III areas, clearance would be at the level of the CZMA (Coastal Zone Management Act).
- Floor Space Index - As per CRZ, 2011 Notification, for CRZ-II areas, Floor Space Index (FSI) had been frozen at 1991 Development Control Regulation (DCR) levels.
- In the Draft CRZ, 2018 Notification, it has been proposed to de-freeze this.
- Permitting FSI for construction projects, as prevailing on the date of the new Notification is proposed.
- Tourism - Temporary tourism facilities have been proposed in Beaches.
- These include shacks, toilet blocks, change rooms, drinking water facilities etc.
- Such temporary facilities are also proposed to be permissible in the No Development Zone (NDZ) of the CRZ-III areas.
- These will be taken up on the seaward site of the roads where there is a National or State Level Highway passing through the NDZ.
- On the landward side, Resorts/Hotels and other tourism facilities have been proposed to be permitted.
- These will however be subject to the extant regulations of the concerned State.
- Mangroves - The draft proposes some compensatory measures in cases where roads are constructed through mangroves.
- A minimum 3 times the mangrove area affected/ destroyed during the construction shall be taken up for compensatory plantation.
- Mining - Regulated limestone mining will be permitted.
- This will be subject to strict Environmental safeguards, in areas adequately above the height of HTL.
- This would be based on recommendations of reputed National Institutes in the Mining field.
When will it come into force?
- There are Coastal Zone Management Programmes (CZMP) framed to the CRZ Notification, 2011 by the respective States/UTs.
- These have to be revised now by the States/UTs as per the provisions of the CRZ, 2018 Notification.
- This has to be approved by the Ministry of Environment, Forest & Climate Change.
- Only after this process, the relaxations/amendment proposed in the CRZ Notification, 2018 shall come into force.
Source: PIB
Quick Facts
High Tide Line (HTL)
- HTL is generally the line of intersection of the land with the water's surface at the maximum height reached by a rising tide.
- For the purposes of notification, HTL means the line on the land up to which the highest water line reaches during the spring tide.
Floor Space Index (FSI)
- Floor Space Index is also known as the Floor Area Ratio (FAR).
- It is the ratio between the area of a built up area to the area of the plot (land) on which a building stands.
