Maharashtra: Over 300 development projects in coastal zones awaiting approval

The other 165 are ongoing cases, where the Maharashtra Coastal Zone Management Authority (MCZMA) had asked project proponents to submit certain compliance reports, according to information from the state environment department. Maharashtra has a 720-kilometre long coastline stretching across five districts — Mumbai, Thane, Raigad, Sindhudurg and Ratnagiri.

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The pendency has swelled as the MCZMA was first unable to hold meetings and clear proposals as the old Coastal Zone Management Plan expired on January 31. The plan is a crucial blueprint that categorizes areas within CRZ to show where construction is restricted and where it can even be denied. A new plan, which has been in the works for at least four years, is yet to be finalised. Later, though the Union Ministry of Environment and Forests agreed to grant an extension to the old Coastal Zone Management Plan till January 31, 2017, the MCZMA has still been unable to clear pending projects with the National Green Tribunal (NGT) having stayed clearances. The tribunal in February had directed MCZMA to not grant permission to any development activities in CRZ areas till the maps of the new Coastal Zone Management Plan are published.

Satish Gavai, principal secretary at the state environment department, said, “We have been unable to hold meetings despite getting an extension to the existing plan. Cases are piling up for clearance with every passing week. The next NGT hearing is scheduled on Thursday. We are going to request the tribunal to allow us to conduct meetings considering we now have an extension to the old Coastal Zone Management plan.”

The list of pending proposals includes the 33.5 km coastal road. The ambitious road is to be constructed along the city’s western coast as a combination of reclamation from the sea and mangroves, roads on stilts and tunnels. The MCZMA recommended the freeway for a clearance to the Union environment ministry after assessing it in January. However, the latter is yet to approve the project due the NGT’s stay on clearances in the coastal areas. “There are several more infrastructure works in coastal districts in the list of pending projects. Moreover, there are many proposals for repairs and reconstruction of old dilapidated buildings too prior to the monsoon,” said a senior official.

The last meeting of the MCZMA when it appraised projects for clearance was on January 1. The state environment department had until then been holding two meetings of the MCZMA every month for most of last year to clear pending projects at a break-neck speed. From 117 proposals last May, the MCZMA had been able to bring down the pendency to almost zero new projects by January, and another 20 under process for compliance.