The Alappuzha Municipality will take stern action against hotels and other commercial establishments dumping waste into canals and in public places.
A recent survey conducted jointly by the Health wing of the municipality and Canalpy volunteers identified 32 hotels that dump sewage into canals.
“The move is part of our efforts to restore the canals in the municipal limits to its old glory. We have served notice to 233 hotels and establishments found violating norms. Some of the hotels dump black water into waterbodies and operate violating all existing norms with regard to pollution control. We have given them time for setting up waste treatment facilities. We will not allow anyone to dump waste into canals and in public places. The municipality will not renew their licences and legal action will be initiated against them,” Alappuzha municipal secretary S. Jahangir said.
Recently, the Alappuzha Municipality launched a project for scientific cleaning of waste-choked canals. As part of it, 141 small canals will be revived and protected. The canals will be deepened after removing silt and waste. All encroachments on the banks of the canals will be evicted and outlets dumping waste will be blocked. The project is being funded under the Atal Mission for Rejuvenation and Urban Transformation (AMRUT) scheme.
Apart from small canals, the State government will renovate nine major canals in Alappuzha.
KIIFB nod
The project will be implemented at a cost of ₹108 crore under the Kerala Infrastructure Investment Fund Board (KIIFB). It recently received the KIIFB nod and will be completed in four phases. The major canals to be renovated and deepened are Vade Canal, Commercial Canal, West Junction Canal, East Junction Canal, Uppootti Canal, Murinjapuzha Thodu, Kottaram Thodu, Alappuzha-Sherthala (AS) Canal and Alappuzha-Ambalapuzha Canal.
