Aquatic Pollution and Coastal Management

Unit 15 : Coastal regulation zone notification

15.3. Regulation of Permissible Activities
(1) All other activities, except those prohibited in par 2 above, will be regulated as under:
Clearance shall be given for any activity within the Coastal Regulation Zone only if it requires water front and foreshore facilities.
(2) The following activities will require environmental clearance from the Ministry of Environment and Forests, Government of India, namely:
(i) Construction activities related to Defence requirements for which foreshore facilities are essential (e.g. slipways, jetties, etc); except for classified operational component of defence projects for which a separate procedure shall be followed. (Residential building, office building, hospital complexes, workshops shall not come within the definition of operational requirements except in very special cases and hence shall not normally be permitted in the CRZ).
(ii) Operational constructions for ports and harbours and light houses and constructions for activities such as jetties, wharves, quays and slipways;
9[Provided that for expansion or modernization of existing ports and harbours including fishing harbours, operational constructions for ports and harbours and construction of jetties, wharves, quays, slipways, Single Point Mooring and Single Buoy Mooring and for reclamation for facilities essential for operational requirements of ports and harbours in areas within the existing port limits, except the areas classifies as category CRZ-I(i), shall require environmental clearance from Government of India in the Ministry of Surface Transport, which shall take decision on these activities on the basis of Environment Impact Assessment Report.
Provided further that reclamation for commercial purposes such as shopping and housing complexes, hotels and entertainment activities shall not be permissible].
(iii) Thermal power plants (only foreshore facilities for transport of raw materials facilities for in-take of cooling water and outfall for discharge of treated waste water/cooling water); and
(iv) 10[all other activities with investment exceeding rupees five crores except those activities which are to be regulated by the concerned authorities at the State/Union Territory level in accordance with the provisions of paragraph 6, sub-paragraph (2) of Annexure 1 of the notification].
(3) (i) The Coastal States/Union Territory Administration shall prepare, within a period of one year from the date of this Notification, Coastal Zone Management Plans identifying and classifying the CRZ areas within their respective territories in accordance with guidelines given in Annexures - I and II of the Notification and obtain approval (with or without Modifications) of the Central Government in the Ministry of Environment & Forests;
(ii) Within the frame work of such approved plans, all development and activities within the CRZ other than those covered in para 2 and para 3(2) above shall be regulated by the State Government, Union Territory Administration or the local authority as the case may be in accordance with the guidelines given in Annexures - I and II of the Notification; and
(iii) In the interim period till the Coastal Zone Management Plans mentioned in para 3(3)(i) above prepared and approved, all developments and activities within the CRZ shall not violate the provisions of this Notification. State Governments and Union Territory Administration shall ensure adherence to these regulations and violations, if any shall be subject to the provisions of the Environment (Protection) Act, 1986.