The Comptroller and Auditor General of India (CAG) has red-flagged nearly 200 projects in the country that violate the Coastal Regulation Zone (CRZ) notification, 2019. Worse, many of these projects are either executed by the government or sanctioned by it. They range from the construction of a statue of Chhatrapati Shivaji Maharaj in waters off Nariman Point in Mumbai, to the approval of Adani and Tata Group projects based on questionable environmental data, to the destruction of Olive Ridley turtle nesting areas in Odisha and Goa. In Karnataka’s Udupi, a road and two bridges were built on the islands of Shambhavi River without obtaining CRZ clearance. Mangrove plantations were destroyed to build the road. The CAG team, which personally verified the existence of the road, has stated that no action was taken by the state’s CRZ Authority though a show cause notice was issued to the Public Works Department. In Mangaluru, the CRZ Expert Committee had recommended clearing a hotel project without the latter fulfilling the obligation of shifting the parking area beyond the no-development zone of 200 metres from the high tide line of Gurupura River. The report also found that untreated water was being directly released to the sea in 11 of the 12 cities of coastal Karnataka, with Mangaluru being the only exception. Quoting from a report of the Karnataka State Pollution Control Board, the CAG said, over 7.5 million litres of untreated sewage water was being released to the sea. The other violations in the state include construction of four additional berths in New Mangalore Port and a petroleum products storage terminal at Karwar.
It is clear from the report that the Union Environment Ministry and the CRZ Authorities in the states have actually cleared the path for various illegal projects. In fact, the CAG report records that the authorities had, instead of serving as watchdogs and guardians, overlooked their own norms in these cases. Often, environmental clearances were granted though domain experts were not present during the deliberations. It may be difficult to strictly adhere to CRZ regulations while providing connectivity to islands cut off from the mainland, but statues and commercial projects are totally avoidable.
The CRZ Authority in the state is currently headed by the Additional Chief Secretary (Forests, Ecology and Environment) who, as a government servant, could be susceptible to pressure from political bosses. It is thus imperative that the Authority should be made an independent body and headed by an expert with impeccable integrity. Else, it will end up as a facilitator for the destruction of the coastline, rather than its protector.