Raising various demands, houseboat owners in Alappuzha under the aegis of the All Kerala Houseboat Owners Samyuktha Samithi will organise a march and dharna in front of District Collectorate here on October 16.
The samithi said the Kerala State Pollution Control Board (PCB) was charging exorbitant penalties (₹75,000) from boats without pollution certificates. It urged the PCB to rectify its wrong policies. The owners called for the withdrawal of the Inland Vessels Act and demanded the immediate reopening of the Sewage Treatment Plant (STP) at H- Block (Kunnumma).
It is mandatory for all houseboats to empty septage at an STP every three months in order to renew the annual licence for operation. The STP operated by the District Tourism Promotion Council (DTPC) had taken a hit from floods and subsequently shut down after the PCB found flaws in its functioning. Later, the PCB rejected an application submitted by the DTPC for renewing its licence in 2019. Though the DTPC launched work to upgrade the plant, it is yet to be made operational.
In the absence of a functional STP, boats are finding it hard to empty wastewater. The DTPC had earlier deployed a specialised boat (sewage barge) for collecting septage from houseboats in Alappuzha. The barge, which belongs to the Tourism department, used to visit the Houseboat terminal at Punnamada Finishing Point and collect waste from vessels. It, however, stopped operations a few months ago. “The barge halted operations around five months back. We are now emptying septage from vessels using tanker lorries. The government is showing a total disregard towards the houseboat sector. It is pushing the sector into disarray,” said Kevin Rozario, general secretary, All Kerala Houseboat Owners and Operators’ Samiti.
The samyuktha samithi urged the authorities to issue licences to all boats that participated in the 2018 adalat. It called for an end to police checking causing hardships to tourists. The owners also urged the authorities to issue licences to all employees in houseboats and identity cards to tourist guides.
