(a) whether the Government has been successful in achieving the objective of the Society of Integrated Coastal Management’ being implemented as a pilot project in the country and if so, the details thereof;
(b) whether the Government has been successful in reducing coastal pollution and waste and if so, the details thereof;
(c) the number of Indian coasts included under the said project; and
(d) the extent to which the said project is likely to promote tourism?
MINISTER OF STATE IN THE MINISTRY OF ENVIRONMENT, FOREST AND CLIMATE CHANGE
(SHRI BABUL SUPRIYO)
(a) to(c): Under the Ministry of Environment, Forest & Climate Change, the Society of Integrated Coastal Management (SICOM) was set up as National Project Management Unit to implement the Integrated Coastal Zone Management Project in identified coastal stretches of the Gulf of Kachchh in Gujarat; Gopalpur-Chilika and Dhamra- Pradeep, in Odisha; and Digha-Shankarpur, &Sagar Island in West Bengal for protecting and conserving coastal and marine environmentand sustainable development of these areas. Pollution abatement is one of the important thematic areas of the project. To this end, the project helped in setting up of Sewage Treatment Plants for the city of Jamnagar in Gujarat and Digha town in West Bengal, besides improvement in sewage networks system in these areas. To combat air pollution, complete grid electrification was carried out for Sagar Island in West Bengal, which was fully dependent on power supply through highly polluting diesel gensets. The Beach Environment and Aesthetic Management Service (BEAMS) programme has been piloted in identified 13 beaches across the coastal States/UTs. High standards of cleanliness and effective management of solid waste from such beaches is one of the major activities of the BEAMS programme. A week long intensive beach cleaning drive was also undertaken in 50 other identified beaches of the country across all coastal States/UTs, under the Swatchh Nirmal Tat Abhiyaan.
(d): The BEAMS programme under the ICZM Project has been envisaged as an Eco-tourism model endeavouring to provide to the tourists/beach goers clean and hygienic bathing water, facilities/amenities, safe and healthy environment for promoting tourism and sustainable development of the area.
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