Nayachar, all cock-and-bull: Nayachar fouls law

Business Standard / Kolkata October 27, 2007

Nayachar Island, the proposed site for the petrochemical hub project of the West Bengal government, would have to be de-notified form the Coastal Regulation Zone Notification of 1991 for setting up industry there.

The island lying at the confluence of Hooghly and Haldi rivers, off Haldia in Medinipur district, falls within the Coastal Regulation Zone (CRZ) area, and is classified as CRZ I and CRZ III.

According to the Notification, setting up of industries is actively prohibited in any area classified as CRZ I, while areas falling within CRZ III could be used for developing pipelines, and conveying systems.

The Ministry of Environment and Forests (MoEF)has conveyed in a recent letter dated October 5 to a Kolkata based NGO called Society for Direct Initiative for Social and Health Action(DISHA) that it had not received any proposal from the state government for setting up of petrochemical or chemical industry in Nayachar island.

The state government is likely to request the West Bengal State Coastal Zone Management Authority to de-notify Nayachar island from the CRZ, said Santanu Chakravorty of DISHA.

“However, the authority did not have the legal powers to de-notify the area from the CRZ on grounds of facilitating industry development”, he claimed.

West Bengal did not have a Coastal Zone Management Plan(CZMP) either, claimed the NGO, further establishing the lackadaisical attitude of the government on environmental issues. West Bengal has a very short coast-line compared to other coastal states, and thereby enhancing the coast-line's geo-ecological importance.

Major portions of Nayachar can be expected to fall under the CRZ I category, claimed the NGO, making it particularly vulnerable against industrial development.

This apart, DISHA noted that the state government had played an active role in evicting 20,000 fishermen from their seasonal fish-drying activities in Jambudwip a few years back, on grounds of protecting the mangroves.

The same government is willing to bend rules for bringing in industrial investment into the state, alleged DISHA.

In another move, the NGO has filed a contempt of court petition against the central and state environment departments in the Calcutta High Court for their inaction after the Court's order to take legal action against unscrupulous realtors and hoteliers at Mandarmoni near Digha.

The local tourism industry constructed hotels on the beach, destroying sand dunes and beach vegetation, alleged S Dev, general secretary of DISHA.