MoEF mulls a cap on humans in coastal belt

“Retrofitting existing projects is not feasible. It is too expensive and technically difficult,and many of these project areas do not have space. Besides,such projects may have reached the end of their project life by the time such retrofitting is completed,” said Nalini Bhatt,adviser to the MoEF,on the sidelines of a conference on Integrated Coastal Zone Management held in Ahmedabad on Saturday.

“So rather than retrofitting,we are considering management techniques like limiting the size of populations that live near such areas so that a calamity like what happened in Fukushima is avoided,” Bhatt said.

In the wake of the earthquake and tsunami in Japan’s north-eastern sea coast more than a month ago,the MoEF had formed four expert appraisal committees (on industry,infrastructure,thermal power and nuclear power) “to deliberate on tsunami-related risks and to examine how they can be included in the Terms of Reference for Environment Impact Assessments for future projects”.

Additionally,an expert group was also constituted to examine what additional safeguards are needed for existing projects. A formal report from the group is expected in the next two months.

Besides the relook,the MoEF had also roped in the Survey of India to prepare a “hazard line” that would run through the entire coastline.

Mundra SEZ: MoEF to get report on violations soon

The report on alleged violations of Coastal Regulation Zone notification 1991 by the Adani Group-promoted Multi-Product SEZ in Mundra,Kutch,is likely to be submitted to the MoEF in a matter of weeks,a top official said. The Gujarat Coastal Zone Management Authority was asked by the MoEF to examine the High Tide Line and Low Tide Lines (HTL/LTL) in the area where the SEZ has come up.

In December last year,A Senthil Vel,a director at the MoEF,had visited the MPSEZ site after a fishermen’s union complained several times about alleged violation of environmental laws and that this was threatening their livelihoods.

Subsequesntly,the MoEF had issued the Adani Group a showcause notices asking it to halt construction work and as to why constructions in the disallowed areas should not be brought down as the group violated environmental norms,one of them being that part of the SEZ was built in between the HTL and the LTL. The site visit report had also mentioned that there was large-scale destruction of mangroves. Nalini Bhatt,advisor to the MoEF,said on Saturday the state’s CZMA was asked to study the alleged violations and report to the MoEF. “It’s a technical study,so the initial 15-day deadline was extended. But now we are expecting the report to land in a matter of a week or two,and we will take up the issue accordingly,” Bhatt said. A Senthil Vel,who had visited the site himself,said the Ministry was also not aware that the group had asked the state government for an additional 1500-plus hectares of reserved forest land,as reported in this newspaper on Saturday.