'Hazard line' to trace India's fragile coast

The government is planning an extensive exercise to map a "hazard line" along the country's 7,500 km coastline, from Gujarat to West Bengal. This marks the first time environmentally sensitive coastal areas will be clearly demarcated.

The Rs 1,156-crore project, known as the Integrated Coastal Zone Management (ICZM) project, was approved by the Cabinet Committee on Economic Affairs (CCEA) on Thursday.

The World Bank will provide Rs 897 crore as part of a soft loan for the project, which is to be implemented over the next five years. The Survey of India will map the line through aerial photography.

Environment Minister Jairam Ramesh said the project was important in view of rising sea levels as a result of global warming. Environment activists also pointed out that it would help check the flouting of coastal zoning laws.

For most projects, the implementation of the Coastal Regulation Zone Act is administered by state governments that tend to relax the rules. The tourism industry may be the first to face the impact since the hazard line may make it more difficult for promoters to build sea front hotels with extended golf courses, environmentalists said.

There have been several moves of late to strengthen coastal zone regulations. A few months ago, the environment ministry imposed a moratorium on all new ports in the country awaiting the report of an environment impact assessment of existing ports.

The Coastal Regulation Zone Act of 1991 is also being changed. An amended Act looks at protecting traditional rights of fishermen.

The first phase of the hazard line project will begin in Gujarat, Orissa and West Bengal. Ramesh said the states had been chosen on the basis of their vulnerability and ongoing development work on coasts. "A lot of development activity is taking place along the coast in Gujarat," he said. Sunderbans in West Bengal was a highly ecologically sensitive area and likely to be affected immensely by climate change, he said.

The project will cover the Gulf of Kutch and Jamnagar district of Gujarat at an investment of Rs 298 crore.

In Orissa, the coast along Gopalpur-Chilika and Paradip-Dhamra will be covered with an investment of Rs 201 crore and in West Bengal, the project will invest Rs 300 crore to cover Sunderban, Haldia and Digha-Shankarpur regions.

The project will also help develop the capacity and set up institutions to effectively implement the Coastal Regulation Zone notification, 1991 to control pollution of coastal waters and expand livelihood options for coastal communities. Ramesh said national centre for sustainable costal management will be set up a t Anna University, Chennai.

The hazard line mapping will also help indicate if there are communities living inside it and efforts would be made to relocate them, though not, he clarified, forcibly.