The East Coast Road (ECR) is one of the principal thoroughfares leading out of our city. Over the last two decades, the route has transformed from being a collection of sleepy village roads to one bustling with activity, with several guesthouses, resorts, farmhouses dotting the area, besides luxury sea-facing villas and bungalows. The transformation has however come at a massive cost, all owing to poor implementation of laws.
Its proximity to the coastline has meant that any construction activity in the area must conform to the norms laid out by the Coastal Regulation Zone notifications. These rules originally mandated that all construction within 500 meters of sea (which qualified as CRZ II) was disallowed. In 2015, this was relaxed in the coastal states such as Tamil Nadu, Andhra Pradesh, Karnataka, Odisha, West Bengal, Maharashtra, and Gujarat pursuant to representations by the real estate industry, with a few conditions attached. This paper had written on how the changed rules would threaten beaches and how rampant violations were bound to occur, given the attitude of the enforcement agencies (MM, July 1-15,2015). Subsequent developments over this past decade have sadly proven the paper right.
In 2024, a CAG report pulled up the Tamil Nadu State Coastal Zone Management Authority (TNSCZMA) for having incorrectly granted clearances to 114 out of 175 projects between 2015 and 2022 without forwarding them to appropriate authorities such as the Ministry of Environment, Forest and Climate Change or the State Environmental Impact Assessment Authority for approval. It also identified nearly 90 unauthorized constructions within the No Development Zone of CRZ III, which includes areas within 200 meters of the High Tide line.
Over the last few months, newspapers have regularly reported on a wide-range of violations, including construction of unauthorised seawalls, building on village poromboke land intended for public use and constructions in areas classified as No Development Zone as per CRZ Notification, 2019. In May this year, the Chengalpattu district administration issued a stop-work order for illegal constructions undertaken along the Muttukadu coast. The Times of India reported that around 22 sea-facing buildings faced the threat of demolition. The National Green Tribunal too has taken suo-moto cognizance of the matter.
While the actions taken by the administration are welcome, the way the script plays out with respect to violations is tediously repetitive. First, a brazen violation is allowed to be carried out and things go on normally, until the authorities are stirred into action either on a huge hue and cry being raised, or in some cases, on the happening of something drastic. It has also required the courts to step in and take note of matters (as has happened with the current subject on many occasions in the recent past, most remarkably in 2020, where it ordered demolition of four bungalows). Whether the same script can afford to play out in such an ecologically sensitive zone is a question that needs serious introspection. Members of the fishing community belonging to the villages that dot the coast are of the view that such massive constructions would not be possible without the knowledge of the local administrative setup. The irony engulfing the entire situation, as brought out by environmental activist K Saravanan, that of fishermen struggling for proper housing on the one hand, with privileges being given to private developers on the same land on the other, is stark.
It is imperative that the authorities make a comprehensive review of the entire situation as it stands today and follow it up with sustained action to ensure that the treasure that is our coastline is protected at all costs. While the draft SOP drawn up in September 2024 by the TNSCZMA to deal with cases of CRZ violations is no doubt a welcome move in the direction, one can only hope that the procedures laid out therein are carried out in their true spirit.