a day ago
Over ₹6 lakh collected as penalty for discharge of pollutants into Edappally canal
The Kochi Corporation has imposed a total penalty of ₹6.25 lakh on those responsible for illegal discharge of untreated wastewater and septage into the Edappally canal in March 2025.
The penalty was collected between March 1 and March 31. It was imposed as part of the short-term action plan for the rejuvenation of the canal and to identify the sources of pollution through a study, according to the report on polluted rivers and other waterbodies submitted by the Kerala State Pollution Control Board (PCB) to the Ministry of Jal Shakthi for May 2025.
The civic body had collected a total of ₹5.54 lakh as penalty from polluters in a three-month-long inspection held from November 30, 2024, to January 15, 2025, it said. The report said four squads had been formed to conduct regular inspections to identify the sources of sewage discharge. It included a night squad to check such violations. The squad included officials of the Corporation's engineering and health wings.
The board informed that it had issued notices to over 160 apartments/hotels located close to the Vembanad lake in Ernakulam as on May 31, 2025, for violation of norms under the Water (Prevention and Control of Pollution), Act. Besides apartments and eateries, notices were also issued to industrial units and houseboats for violation of norms.
The action, which was initiated from the 2023-24 fiscal, included penalty for not setting up proper sewage treatment plants and required authorisation from the PCB to set up and operate such facilities, according to official sources.
The inspections had revealed that the violators either did not have valid consent issued by the PCB to operate a treatment facility or lacked a sewage treatment plant. Inspections had also found out that sewage treatment plants were not functioning properly in some units.
The Principal Bench of the tribunal in New Delhi had asked the government to initiate action against the pollution of Vembanad and Ashtamudi lakes, listed as Ramsar sites for their ecological importance.
