Kolkata (PTI): With the draft Coastal Management Zone (CMZ), which seeks to protect and develop the coast and marine environment, having been notified on May 9 this year, ocean scientists have demanded a clear formula to demarcate the 'no construction zone' before its finalisation.

For the purpose of regulating activities in the CMZ area, a 'set back line' on the land would be demarcated based on vulnerability of the coast to natural and man-made hazards, according to the notification.

The vulnerability of the coast to natural hazards, however, could not be properly evaluated unless a scientific formula to draw the 'set back line' was considered in the notification, Pranabes Sanyal, Member of the National Coastal Zone Management Authority, told PTI.

Based on scientific principles, the coastal zone management could take into account the vulnerability of the coast to natural hazards, try to secure the livelihoods of local communities and protect ecologically and culturally significant coastal resources.

"The formula to fix the area for mandatory space on the coast should be mentioned clearly in the notification by the Ministry of Environment and Forests. This crucial point is sketchy in the draft notification," he said.

"Disasters on a sparsely populated coast will cause less damage than a densely populated coast and a coastal area inhabited by poor people would be more vulnerable than that populated by rich people," Sanyal said.

Along with Sanyal, two members of the West Bengal Coastal Zone Management Authority and ocean scientists, Sugata Hazra and Ananda Deb Mukherjee have written to the secretary of the Ministry of Environment and Forest seeking changes in the draft notification.