Several fishermen’s organisations on Wednesday demanded the withdrawal of the Coastal Zone Management Plans (CZMP) of 2019 since they do not even contain basic features, including the names of villages. The State has around 560 fishing hamlets in 12 districts, and maps have been released for each of these districts.
Addressing presspersons here, K. Bharathi of the South Indian Fishermen Welfare Association said that village-level CZMP are not to be found despite the rules clearly stating that these have to be shown. “Internal roads and features of villages like houses, fish drying places, boat parking spaces, net mending facilities, and fish markets have not been shown. If not marked, these facilities might just be considered encroachments in the future. In many cases, entire villages are missing. For example, 44 villages, including Mamallapuram in Chengalpattu, have not been marked,” he said.
The maps for which public hearings are to be held on August 18 do not show fishing or fish breeding zones marked; names of villages in several places are wrong (for instance, Nemmeli has been mentioned as Pudhu Kalpakkam), and some villages are mentioned as just Kuppam.
Mr. Bharathi also said that the high-tide line for Chinna Kuppam in Cuddalore district has been marked deep inside the sea. “They have done this using old data. The seashore has receded due to erosion. Despite a High Court order that points of erosion have to be shown according to the level of erosion, it has not been implemented. We might have to go for a contempt petition on this,” he explained.
Arumugam of Kanathur Reddy Kuppam said that the map of Chengalpattu had not been changed in any manner since the 2018 meeting. “We had petitioned the then district collector, and he had cancelled the public hearing held for the district at that time. Now, with no change whatsoever in the CZMP, we want the meetings concerned to be cancelled and proper plans drawn up,” he said.
He explained that even bird sanctuaries had been left out of the maps; keys to the maps had not been given in Tamil, and in some cases only half of the village had been marked. “We cannot accept such a half-hearted effort since it involves the lives of lakhs of people belonging to the fishing community,” he said.