Pollution Control Board to take action against houseboats

The Kerala State Pollution Control Board (PCB) is preparing to take action against houseboats that lack arrangements to check pollution and are operating without PCB clearance in the wake of increase in pollution in the lake and the spread of diseases in Alappuzha district. It has come to the PCB's notice that several houseboats and other passenger boats fitted with two-stroke outboard engines are operating in violation of norms.

 

The Lok Ayukta had issued orders directing that a waste treatment plant be set up for treating the waste in the bio-tanks of the houseboats. But the houseboat owners were reluctant to implement the order. There was a proposal to set up such a plant at Punnamada in Alappuzha district. The PCB had extended the deadline for setting up the plant several times. Even though the Tourism Department had undertaken to set it before the final deadline of March 31, 2007, nothing came of it. The PCB feels any demand for further extension of the deadline is unjustifiable. It is convinced that because of the present situation, the houseboats continue to pollute Vembanad Lake and the inland waterways. This has forced the PCB to take steps to protect the lake and the waterways. The lake already faces the problem of pollution. The operation of houseboats without any machinery to control pollution will only aggravate the situation.Hence, the PCB has decided to take action as per law without further notice against houseboats that are functioning without their own or a common machinery for the treatment of waste in the biotanks.

(The Hindu, 2^nd  August 2007)