Clean-up or legal mess?

PROPONENTS and promoters of the reborn Marina beach beautification project seem to have chosen to overlook the laws governing the land. The result may well be a violation of the Coastal Regulation Zone Notification (CRZ), 1991 - a law that was intended to protect coastal environments from indiscriminate development activities. More important, the CRZ was designed to safeguard the interests of local fishing communities and other traditional coastal communities from land (and natural resource) alienation by powerful industrial and development forces.

The CRZ notification is a zoning law, which lays down clear restrictions on activities on the landward area lying 500 metres from the High Tide Line. The Marina beach area as well as most of the Chennai Metropolitan/Municipal Area (except sensitive sites such as the Adyar Estuary) are classified as CRZ-II zones. Although CRZ-II zones have fewer restrictions than the CRZ-I and CRZ-III zones, there are definite and stringent rules regulating development activities in these areas.

The proposed project involves the construction of corporate complexes and office accommodation for multinationals and embassies and is clearly not intended `for traditional use' by the fisherfolk. Malaysian Minister S. Samy Vellu revealed that the project would cover a 1.5-km stretch at Santhome. The beautification plans seem to be disguised attempts to meet some real estate needs, severely jeopardising the survival of the fishing communities.

Samy Vellu clarified that there would be a removal of existing structures and construction would take place on these cleared sites. Intended to safeguard coastal communities from such land buy-out schemes, the CRZ notification states that there shall not be any change in the existing use in the reconstruction of buildings. This clause is also aimed at protecting coastal areas from the negative fallout of excessive construction activity close to the seashore (salinity ingress and sea erosion, for example).

On an earlier occasion, the Supreme Court had ordered all State governments to implement this law diligently, remarking that enacting a law but tolerating its infringement is worse than not enacting a law. Ironically, at a press conference on January 14 Chief Minister Jayalalithaa stated that the role of the State government in the beautification project was to grant permission for the same.

Aarti Sridhar is a research associate working on issues relating to coastal environment, supported by the Oxfam India Trust.