Daijiworld Media Network - Mangalore (SP)

Mangalore, Mar 25: Dakshina Kannada district deputy commissioner V Ponnuraj has warned, that criminal cases would be filed against gram panchayat secretaries and revenue officials by holding them directly responsible, if licences are found to have been issued for illegal buildings in the land belonging to the government. He was speaking after inaugurating the workshop on Coastal Regulatory Zone (CRZ) Notification - 1991 held in the city, by the forest, environment and ecology department on Tuesday March 24.

"There have been a number of cases where encroachments of government land have taken place and buildings have come up there. In one such case in Manjanady in the city outskirts, criminal cases have been registered against two people, he said.  He asked the officials to take care that no such incidents recur henceforth and not to allow any construction activities even in privately owned land, without obtaining licences.

The DC pointed out, the CRZ notification came into being 17 years ago, and there have been incidents in which the rules and exemptions available for the fishermen and those already living on the seashores, were misused by others. "This workshop is being held to keep the officials exhaustively informed about the CRZ rules. Henceforth, they cannot hope to escape punitive action, claiming that they did not have proper information. Any application for licences for development activities in CRZ areas should be considered only after obtaining no-objection certificate from the zonal director of the department of environment. For violations, the officials would be directly answerable," he explained.

Mangalore Circle forest conservator T V Mohandas warned of imminent danger in the future, if the unregulated use of coastal areas is not arrested now itself. Professor of Fisheries College and head of the fisheries environment management department Dr H R V Reddy wanted such workshops to be held at grass-root level frequently.

Dakshina Kannada zilla panchayat chief executive officer P Shivshankar called upon people and local bodies to voluntarily come forward to protect their environment.