The Southern Bench of the National Green Tribunal (NGT) has directed the Tamil Nadu State Coastal Management Authority (TNSCZMA) to consider the long-term housing needs of coastal communities while preparing the draft Coastal Zone Management Plan (CZMP).
The Bench, comprising Justice Pushpa Sathyanarayana and expert member Satyagopal Korlapati, was hearing a petition filed by S. Palayam, a fisherman from Besant Nagar, seeking a direction to the TNSCZMA to prepare and publish detailed plans for the long-term housing needs of coastal fishermen communities as required by the CRZ Notification, 2019.
The petition pertains to the draft CZMP, first released in 2022, which received backlash from the fishermen community as it did not include any specific comments about fishing zones in waterbodies, breeding and spawning grounds, common properties of the fishermen communities, and the detailed plan for long-term housing needs of the coastal fishermen communities.
The absence of provisions for reserve land allocation for long-term settlement of fishermen raised concerns about the plan’s alignment with CRZ regulations and its impact on both the fishermen’s livelihoods and the environment. Currently, the draft maps in 1:25000 scale have been prepared and uploaded in the public domain for 12 coastal districts, except Chennai and Tiruvallur.
Considering the petitioner’s request, the Bench ordered the TNSCZMA to address the specific issue of long-term housing needs of coastal fishermen communities before publishing the final CZMP notification.