The South Indian Fishermen Welfare Association on Friday alleged that the Union ministry of environment, forests and climate change is trying to dilute the Coastal Regulation Zone Notification 2011 by amending it. South Indian Fishermen Welfare Association president K Bharathi said the ministry made amendments to the CRZ Notifications 2011 in July last year and it was uploaded on the ministry’s website recently. Neither the Environment Protection Rules 1986 nor the Environment Protection Act 1986 accords any power to the ministry to bring about changes that dilute the existing provisions, he said. Such amendments required a notice and a public hearing should be conducted as per Section 4(5) of the Environment Protection Rules 1986. He further said the ministry had misused the powers given to it through Environment Protection Rules 1986 by dispensing with the need for notice for an amendment that dilutes the existing provisions and exposes the coastal stretches to further environmental degradation. The amendment to the CRZ Notification 2011 removes all administrative powers given to the Hazard Line’ within the CRZ framework, reducing the hazard line to merely a tool that should be taken into account while planning, he said. It was after the 2004 tsunami that wreaked havoc on the Indian coastline that the necessity of the hazard line was reiterated in coastal planning. However, the proposed amendment makes it look as though all hazard line is limited to 500 meter. The spirit of the CRZ notification that introduced the hazard line as a way forward for sustainable coastal planning had been tampered with, he charged.