Submit progress reports of activities every 6 months: Centre to state coastal authority
MUMBAI: The union environment ministry has directed the Maharashtra Coastal Zone Management Authority (MCZMA) to submit reports of its activities to the National Coastal Zone Management Authority every six months for better monitoring and protection of coastal areas.
In a notification dated July 6, made public on their website on Thursday, the Ministry of Environment, Forests and Climate Change (MOEFCC) reconstituted MCZMA and issued guidelines to protect and improve coastal water quality, to prevent, abate and control environmental pollution in Coastal Regulation Zone (CRZ) areas in Maharashtra.
“We are carrying out this exercise through notifications for all coastal districts keeping climate change and disaster management as the focus. Once coastal zone management plan
(CZMP) maps are ready for each coastal state, monitoring by central and state governments will be much better,” said a senior official from the MOEFCC.
City-based environmentalists had filed complaints with the state and Centre regarding the previous MCZMA board’s inactivity, delay in filing responses, and lack of information on Fisheries Research Institute, and Central Water and Power Research Station, Pune are also members. Two
regarding coastal zone regulation (CRZ) proceedings on their website.
“The MCZMA website has been dysfunctional for the last two years. There is an absolute lacuna of information regarding projects, and no system to file complaints or suggestions ,” said Debi Goenka, executive trustee of the environment group Conservation professors from deemed educational institutions will also be part of MCZMA.
Action Trust.
“Some changes have been made in the revised MCZMA body, which will be followed by the state and various departments to work in tandem. This reconstitution is done every two years,” said Satish Gavai, additional chief secretary, Industries department and former chairman, MCZMA.