Sudipto Mondal/The Hindu

• Environment Department is redrawing the map 
• It aims at protecting the mangroves
• ‘Staff shortage has hit work’

Mangalore, Feb 23: An estimated 400-acre marshland in Thokur, Kenjaru and Baikampady villages of Mangalore taluk is to be added to the Coastal Regulatory Zone (CRZ) map. At present, it has 200-acre marshland.

The final map, being redrawn in the office of the Regional Director of Environment, is expected to be published within a week. Once these ecologically sensitive areas are brought under the CRZ, it will encourage various environmentalist groups which are fighting for preservation of these areas.

The district environment authorities are undertaking this task after they were rapped by the Ministry of Environment and Forests (MoEF) for not drawing proper maps of the area, which was in turn leading to encroachments and violations of the fragile ecosystem.

In a letter to the State-level coastal zone management authorities, the MoEF had taken serious note of the fact that a large part of the mangroves and marshlands here did not figure in the CRZ maps.

The strong message of the MoEF was prompted by a major violation of the mangroves in the area. It was when this matter was brought to the notice of the Central agency that the discrepancies in the maps emerged. A section of the mangroves here had come under pressure after a Surathkal-based company started dumping soil on the marshland under instructions from the owners of the land.

Taking note of this, the Central agency ordered that these two companies should bear the cost of restoring the area its former shape.

In spite of an order from the MoEF, the regional authorities are not in a position to force the violators to restore the area. J.N. Patil, Regional Director (Environment), said that since the filled up area did not figure in the CRZ maps, they could not prevail upon the violators to remedy the damage. The problem was compounded by the violators’ not responding to a notice from his office seeking an explanation for their actions. “We are gathering facts and building up our case against the violators,” Patil said and added that he was crippled by shortage of staff.