Kochi: Several provisions in the Coastal Regulation Zone Rules of 2019 would prove detrimental to the interests of the local residents. It is pointed out that for the law of 2019 to come into effect, each of the 1,826 islands located in the backwaters of Kerala would have to implement separate Integrated Island Management Plans (IIMPs) in addition to the Coastal Protection and Management Plan.
Till now, only a draft of the coastal management plan has been prepared for the law of 2019 and finalising 1,826 different integrated plans would take several years. As a result, the residents are concerned that their wait for concessions in the law of 2019 would be delayed further.
As per the new norms, several thickly-populated areas in Ernakulam district have been notified as backwater islands, including Marad Municipality and Vypeen. As the work on the Coastal Protection and Management Plan under the law of 2019 is yet to be completed, provisions of the Act of 2011 are in force in Kerala.
Incidentally, though a land mass surrounded on all four sides by water is normally referred to as an island, the 2019 Rules designate even areas having water on three sides as islands.
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