CMZ Rules:A stumbling block for Mumbai

The dream of making Mumbai a worldclass city will never be fulfilled if the Coastal Management Zone (CMZ) rules are implemented, said a statement released by the Maharashtra chief minister’s office.Fearing that the CMZ will be a setback for the development of the state, Deshmukh has urged Prime Minister Manmohan Singh to intervene.Deshmukh has asked the PM to call a meeting with the chief ministers of all coastal states before implementing the provisions for the CMZ.Objections to the notice—issued on June 9—has to be submitted before July 9. However, Deshmukh has reportedly asked Singh to extend the deadline so that it can be discussed with members of state legislature during the monsoon session. “Raising objections to this new notification is not enough, there is need to educate people about the effects of the CMZ,’’ the release said, adding that once the CMZ is set up, it will hamper the development of the koliwadas (fishing enclaves) in Mumbai and other coastal parts of the state. The urban development department and government agencies such as Cidco, BMC and MMRDA also agreed that the CMZ will be a hurdle to the city’s development.At present, the Coastal Regulation Zone (CRZ) notification, 1991 has put many restrictions on the development along the coast. In Maharashtra, with its 720 km coast line and 54 river creeks, significant stretches of land will be hit by the CRZ notification. The proposed notification will dash the hopes of the government and developers who are eyeing the salt pan lands as any development on these stretches will be banned permanently.
The environment and forests ministry’s draft for the zone’s notification has also invited objections from environmentalists across the city. The CMZ notification is expected to replace the existing Coastal Regulation Zone (CRZ) 1991 after it is finalised. In 2004, the environment and forests department had set up a committee to review the existing rules and recommend changes. In 2005, the panel suggested a scientific way to classify coastal zones and emphasised the idea of comprehensive management. The department then proposed that the coastal zones be delineated with reference to a ‘setback line’ based on the vulnerability of the coast to the sealevel rise and shoreline changes among other parameters. However, green activists said some of the committee’s recommendations were ignored while drafting the final notification. Environmentalists now plan to demand that the existing CRZ Rules, 1991, be made more stringent in order to plug the loopholes created due to the 12 amendments. One of the concerns raised was the ambiguity in the parameters, which defined the concept of a “setback line’’. According to the draft, the parameters would include elevation, geomorphology, sea-level trends and horizontal shoreline displacements. The greens also said the CMZ notification did not have welldefined rules in place, was amateurish and riddled with loopholes. According to them, the high-tide lines (HTL), which had been used as the parameter till now, should be included to define the ‘setback line’. The Centre has not issued any guidelines about the ‘setback line. “This setback line will be a setback as it will be a hurdle in using additional FSI,’’ the release said.