‘Obligation to protect water bodies’: Why cruise boats have been banned in Madhya Pradesh

The move has put a spanner in the works for MP’s budding cruise ship tourism industry, a trend that has been quickly catching onto other states with large coastlines and inland rivers. The industry’s most ambitious upcoming project is the luxury cruise on the Narmada River, which will cover three states, including MP, Maharashtra and Gujarat, plying from Barwani to the Statue of Unity in Gujarat.

What is the case?

Environmentalist Dr Subhash C Pandey filed an application before the NGT against the operation of the cruise in the Bhopal Upper Lake, as well as other water bodies in Madhya Pradesh.

The Upper Lake of Bhopal was created by constructing an earthen dam on the perennial River Kolans, a tributary of the Halali River. The lake accounts for more than 40% of the city’s water supply. About 45 hectare of the lake area on the southern bank of the lake falls in the Van Vihar National Park, a Wildlife Conservation Park notified under the Wildlife (Protection) Act 1972, the NGT said.

Pandey argued that the Upper Lake also has great importance as it has “more than 15 kinds of fishes and several vulnerable animals like turtles, amphibians and aquatic invertebrates and more than 2,500 migratory birds”.

Pandey also said that “even a small Cruise ship/boat carrying hundreds of passengers is comparable with a floating colony where volumes of waste is generated” and that it was “operating without statutory permissions.”

Why did the MP government see nothing wrong with cruise tourism?

The MP government argued that cruise tourism was part of the MP tourism policy, which had planned the development of tourism facilities near major water bodies.

The MP State Tourism Policy 2016 was formulated to also enable “socio-economic development, to generate employment opportunities,” the government added.

It also mentioned that the waiting lounge and jetty for boarding the passengers in the cruise at Bhopal was an artificial temporary construction designed in a manner “where no pollution will be caused to the lake” and that there “will be a zero discharge of sewerage and solid waste from the cruise ship”.

What is the cruise ship scene in Bhopal and where did it go wrong?

Currently, one large 80-seater cruise boat, eleven paddle boats, nine small motor boats, one large 20-seater motor boat, one large 10-seater motor boat and one water scooter operate at the lake, which is a popular tourist destination in the city.

The cruise, which operates from 10:00 am to 7:00 pm, has two floors and is mostly booked on Sundays and all holidays. Each round trip takes 45 minutes to one hour and food is supplied by a local private restaurant. It is also equipped with two 450-watt sound boxes whose “noise levels were above the permissible limit” — a violation considering that the Van Vihar National Park was located near the path of the cruise and falls under the silence zone, a Central Pollution Control Board (CPCB) report stated.

The cruise ship is operated with the help of two John Deere diesel engines of 125 HP capacity each, and three diesel storage tanks of 90 litres capacity. The cruise consumes 28 litres of diesel on a daily basis.

The cruise is equipped with a 12.3 Kilo-volt-amperes (KVA) diesel generator for power backup, which did not have proper arrangements to “collect spillage of oil if any during filing of diesel” and found that “there was a possibility of spillage.” It was also observed that “there was no proper vent provided at the height for exhaust gases generated from the generator and engines”.

“The records of the waste oil/used oil are also not being maintained” and was disposed of “illegally instead of sending to authorized recyclers,” the CPCB report pointed out.

The cruise operator had claimed that the engines are “designed for marine purpose with leakage and spillage proof technology” but during the visit, some “spillage of oil was observed near the engines”. The operator, also claimed that the “engines are designed for zero emissions” but the team noted that “emissions observed from the exhaust pipes.”

The entire cruise ship had one washroom with a urinal and a 100-litre capacity collection tank that collects the waste and sends it to the Nagar Nigam for treatment. It has a 200-litre capacity water tank for use in wash basins and toilets. It was found that “wash basin wastewater was also being directly discharged in the Lake water” and the quality of the water of the lake was found in the ‘C’ Category (with moderate pollution) and also had sewage contamination.

In which areas of Madhya Pradesh does a cruise ship operate and are the conditions the same as in Bhopal?

The state is blessed with water resources, and its longest river Narmada, runs between Vindhya and Satpura ranges. Other major rivers of Madhya Pradesh are: Rivers Son, Shipra, Tapti, Mahanadi, and Chambal, and the Godavari Basin is also a small part of the state.

In Madhya Pradesh, a cruise ship used to operate in the Indira Sagar Dam and Omkareshwar Dam areas in the Khandwa region and Bargi Dam in Jabalpur, where all three cruises operate on the Narmada River.

The cruise ship also operates at Tawa Dam in Hoshangabad and in Gwalior’s Tigra Dam.

However, in contrast to Bhopal, the MPPCB found that the cruise ship destinations of Indira Sagar Dam and Omkareshwar Dam had “no impact on the water body.”

In the Indira Sagar Dam water body area, the Hanuwantiya island is spread over 98 km and is one of the largest water and adventure vacation destinations in MP.

The MPPCB stated that tourists from different parts of the world visit this event “for an array of adventure activities that involve Jet skiing, Motorboating, zorbing and banana riding.” The island operates one 80-seater passenger cruise ship, five motor boats, two rescue boats, one ‘Jal pari’ Motor boat, two houseboats and two jets.

The cruise ship is fitted with engines with two emission vents, and diesel engines were designed with “leakage and spillage proof technology.” The diesel engine and generator sets were installed in a closed area with “leakproof arrangements.”

In this case, there are two urinal toilets with a 750 ltr waste water collection tank, the wastewater from the cruise ship is pumped and treated at a sewage treatment plant at Hanuwantiya resort, it had a sufficient number of cleaning staff on the cruise, a “wire mesh with a long handle was available to collect floating trash” because of which no floating garbage was spotted by the inspection team. Also, even outside food is not allowed and a dedicated staff is stationed to check passengers for outside food.

At Omkareshwar Dam site is Sailani island, which offers a tranquil break to its visitors, spread over five acres of land and is surrounded by the Narmada River on three sides. It has one mini cruise ship, one ‘jal pari’ ship, six motor boats, one rescue boat and two jets.

Just like in Hanuwantiya’s case, the cruise ship engines “are designed with leakage and spillage proof technology” and “installed in a closed area with leak proof arrangements.”

It also has a dedicated cleaning staff, a wire mesh cleaner and no food policy, even though there were no urinal toilets in this 33-passenger seating ship.

How did the NGT bring cruise ships under the ambit of environmental laws?

The state argued that the cruise ship operating in the Bhopal Upper Lake was smaller in size than those which were marine operated and was not governed by the Water Act, 1974, Air Act, 1981 and Environment (Protection) Act, 1986. However, the argument was dismissed, and the NGT reasoned that cruise ships were covered under these acts.

Inland water cruises have been governed by the Inland Vessels (IV) Act, 1917 later superseded by the IV Act, 2021, which also had provisions related to environmental protection.

The NGT ruled that cruise ships with more than 12 passenger capacity were “clearly within the ambit of the statute”.

It said that the “Cruise Boat or Ship is a floating asset of a commercial or industrial activity” run by operators with “commercial objectives on inland water and, therefore, it cannot be said that the provisions of environmental laws are not applicable.”

“Running of Cruise Ships in Inland Waters is not a charity or a service but constitutes part of the ‘travel industry’ or ‘entertainment industry’ or ‘leisure industry’. They are running for consideration and to provide a package of entertainment and joy ride to the consumer people at large,” the NGT ruled.

The NGT said that the “Cruise industry has flourished in a very large way whether in marine waters or inland waters” and the “concept of industry has developed with innovative ideas of industrial entrepreneurs”.

“These days aircraft, watercraft and even spacecraft are different kinds of industries comprising trading spaces on their bodies. Polluting matters discharged from their bodies, which may be termed as premises, also in a wider sense may attract provisions of environmental laws,” the NGT said.

What about the other states?

According to the Ministry of Ports, Shipping and Waterways, the largest river cruise in India is the MV Ganga Vilas cruise, a 51-day river cruise that passes through major cities like Patna in Bihar, Sahibganj in Jharkhand, Kolkata in West Bengal, Dhaka in Bangladesh and Guwahati in Assam.

The ministry stated that the “global river cruise market has grown at 5 per cent over the last few years and is expected to constitute 37 per cent of the cruise market by 2027.”

Most of the river cruises in India are located in the Ganges river, Brahmaputra river cruise in the northeast, and the backwaters of Kerala.

Cruise ship services which mostly operate in the maritime are available in the ports of Mumbai, Cochin, Chennai, Goa and Vishakapatnam and the ministry is pouring in Rs 1,122 Crore to develop 13 port projects in the country to bolster cruise tourism.