The New Indian Express              02.08.2013

Though the erstwhile panchayats— Elathur, Cheruvannur- Nallalam and
Beypore—were incorporated to the City Corporation way back in 2009, they
still remain panchayats, at least as per the Coastal Regulation Zone
(CRZ). The Coastal Regulation Zone notification 2011, issued by the
Ministry of Environment and Forests (MoEF) has classified the
environmentally fragile coastal areas into four zones- from CRZ-I to
CRZ-IV. As per the classification, areas in Kozhikode Corporation limit
fall under the CRZ-II, excluding the three erstwhile panchayats. These
panchayats still remain in the CRZIII category.

The City Corporation
Council had passed a resolution urging the Union Government to notify
the inclusion of the three merged panchayats in the CRZ-II category, in
2011. However, Corporation authorities said that the process had reached
nowhere. According to the CRZ notification 2011, areas between Low Tide
Line (LTL) and High Tide Line (HTL) come under CRZ-II, which means the
areas that have been developed upto or close to the shoreline. In
general “developed areas” are included in the category.

Meanwhile,
CRZ-III is defined as areas that are relatively undisturbed and those do
not belong to either CRZ-I or II, which include coastal zone in the
rural areas (developed and undeveloped). Officials say that having
different scales of CRZ in the same local body is affecting building
constructions and the building plans getting approval. “As they have
been merged with the Corporation, all the three (erstwhile) panchayats
should come under CRZ-II.

But the process has been delayed, mainly
affecting the construction and development activities in these areas. A
huge number of applications for building plan approval are pending
before the corporation,” said A M Jayan, Secretary, Calicut Development
Authority (CDA). He was earlier an engineer with the City Corporation.
In CRZ-III area, upto 200mts from HTL on the landward side in case of
seafront and 100 mts along tidal-influenced water bodies or width of the
creek, whichever is less, is to be earmarked as “No Development Zone”
(NDZ), while in CRZ-II, buildings are permitted on the landward side of
the existing road, or on the landward side of existing authorised
structures.

“There is a need to prepare a map identifying the areas that
fall under CRZ-II category in the erstwhile panchayats. Then it is for
the Union Government to issue the order notifying the three incorporated
panchayats in the CRZ-II. However, nothing has been done so far,” Jayan
added.

CRZ-II and CRZ-III as per CRZ notification 2011

CRZ
II is referred to as ‘developed area’, or the area within the existing
municipal limits or in other existing legally designated urban areas
which are substantially built up and has been provided with drainage and
approach roads and other infrastructure facilities, as water supply and
sewerage.

CRZ III denotes areas that are relatively undisturbed
and those do not belong to either CRZ-I or II. Coastal zone in the rural
areas (developed and undeveloped) and areas within municipal limits or
in other legally designated urban areas, which are not substantially
built up, come under this category.