Skip to main content

CRZ Plans: Paryavaran Mitra notes Gujarat govt "indifference" towards holding public consultations

By A Representative
Gujarat’s well-known environmental NGO Paryavaran Mitra has asked the Gujarat Pollution Control Board (GPCB) to transparently hold public consultations in the coastal areas for preparing state-level Coastal Zone Management Plan (CZMP).
In a letter to the GPCB member-secretary, the NGO director Mahesh Pandya has said that this is necessary in accordance with the state’s Coastal Regulatory Zone (CRZ) Notification, 2011. Following the preparation of the draft CZMP, it would be obligatory to get it approved from the Government of India’s Ministry of Environment and Forests and Climate Change.
Taking objection to the state government’s and GPCB’s indifference towards preparing CZMP, Pandya has said, so far, the GPCB has still not put details of public consultation on its website, nor does it has put a summary of the CZMP draft on the site. In fact, says the letter, the Gujarat Ecology Commission and the Gujarat Coastal Zone Management Authority has also not put up a summary of the CZMP draft. “They have only released a map, which is not easy to decipher for a common person”, he says.
In an email alert to Counterview, Pandya says, just five of 13 coastal Indian states have so far prepared CZMP, adding, the National Green Tribunal (NGT) in its recent order has given August 31, 2018, as the last date for prepared CZMP for all the states. So far the state government has announced public consultation on August 3 in Dwarka and on September 5 in Dwarka.

Comments

TRENDING

Neville Cardus: The man who turned cricket writing into poetry

By Harsh Thakor*  Neville Cardus was one of the most remarkable literary figures of the twentieth century. A prolific English writer and critic, he achieved distinction in two vastly different fields: cricket and classical music. Entirely self-taught, Cardus rose from humble beginnings to become both the cricket correspondent and chief music critic of The Manchester Guardian . His achievements in these contrasting disciplines earned him widespread acclaim and established him as one of the foremost critics of his generation. In February 2025, the cricketing and literary world marked the fiftieth anniversary of his death, which occurred in February 1975.

​Ideological shifts and structural realities within India's left-wing insurgency

​By Harsh Thakor*  The Maoist insurgency in India is arguably at its weakest point since the formation of the Communist Party of India (Maoist) in 2004. Years of sustained counterinsurgency operations, leadership losses, shrinking territorial influence, declining recruitment, and growing technological advantages enjoyed by the state have significantly eroded the movement's operational capabilities. 

The Dalit body on screen: Stereotypes, sacrifice, and subjugation in Hindi films

By Dr. Prem Singh*  Despite centuries of reformist efforts, from Gandhi and Ambedkar to contemporary activists, the caste system remains deeply embedded in the Indian psyche. One of the primary reasons for this persistence is the religious sanction provided by Brahminical scriptures, which have shaped not only social structures but also cultural and artistic expressions.