Date | Dec 27, 2016:

Former minister Vinay Kumar Sorake has said that the Environment Directorate at the centre has cleared the recommendation for decreasing the Coastal Regulation Zone (CRZ) limits to 50 meters as against the existing 500 meters. The proposal is currently under consideration with the Prime Minister, he said.

At the general body meeting of taluk panchayat, the MLA said that if the Prime Minister approves the proposal, the new policy of CRZ would come into existence all across the coastal borders of the country. He said prior to CRZ, which came into existence in 2006, residents were permitted to stay within the 500 meters periphery and if they had valid documents prior to 1991, they were ensured title deeds.

The members expressed their apprehensions over increasing illegal sand extraction and trafficking. Members Bhujanga Shetty and Sudheer Kumar Shetty alleged that the court and legal hurdles are only limited to the poor. However, the rich are not confined within the precincts of court judgments.

Although the Green Tribunal has issued a stay order for sand extraction, there is no control over fraudulent activities. Sudheer Kumar Shetty also demanded allotments to gram panchayats out of the tax collected from sand mining. He said gram panchayats are not collecting tax for sand extraction and transport.

As per the government notification, 25% of the total tax collected would be given to respective gram panchayats by Mines and Geology department but the amount is not yet released. Rs 71 lakh is pending with Haradi gram panchayat and Rs 10.50 lakh is yet to be paid for Handadi-Barkur gram panchayat, he said.

Sorake informed the house that nearly 70% of the deemed forest area would be disqualified in another two weeks following a report submitted after conducting the joint survey by Revenue and Forest departments. The problem of giving title deeds to houses in the deemed forest area, Akrama-Sakrama, 94C and 94CC will also be sorted out, he said.

Member Dinesh Kotian Palimaru demanded an inquiry into chemical mixture in river Adve. The Environment Pollution Control Board had collected the sample but is yet to submit a report, he said. He said some miscreants had removed the planks put across the vented dams existing in the river. The other issues discussed on the occasion included DC Manna land, housing schemes and road constructions.

(Source: http://www.deccanherald.com/)