Thiruvananthapuram: Kerala is not likely to meet the National Green Tribunal (NGT)'s two-month deadline to prepare the Coastal Zone Management Plan (CZMP).
The NGT-set timeframe is inadequate to prepare the plan, especially since the state has not yet received the necessary approvals from the Centre for drawing up a draft project plan.
Kerala is now contemplating to seek an extension for preparing the plan after convincing the NGT of the difficulties in meeting the deadline.
The state would also examine the legal aspects of the tribunal's order. Kerala has been arguing that the Centre has not set a deadline for drawing up the plan.
According to the Coastal Regulation Zone (CRZ) notification issued in 2019, the CZMP was to be prepared by 2020. The COVID-19 pandemic, however, stalled the work, besides the delay by the departments concerned in submitting their views.
Meanwhile, the government constituted an expert committee, and accepted its major recommendations, which was then forwarded to the Ministry of Environment, Forest and Climate Change.
Currently, Kerala's suggestions are under the central government's consideration. A public hearing would be held only after receiving the centre's response. The hearing has to be conducted in all nine districts, where the CRZ would be applicable.
After holding the hearing, the state would forward the draft plan to the Chennai-based Centre for Sustainable Coastal Management (CSCM). The CSCM would scrutinise the draft to ensure that it complied with the CRZ notification.
The draft would be forwarded to the central government after making changes, if any. Once the central government approves the draft, the plan would be finalised.
The Coastal Management Authority said all these processes could not be completed within two months. The Authority expressed hope that the State could convince the NGT.
So far, only one or two states with scant coastal populations have submitted the draft to the Centre. The Authority said states such as Maharashtra and Goa, too, were facing the same difficulties as that of Kerala.
