Lok Sabha Question No. 1955 (UNSTARRED), answered on 2017-03-14
Subject: Cleaning of Toxic Water Bodies
Ministry: ENVIRONMENT,  FORESTS AND CLIMATE CHANGE
Asked by: SHASHI THAROOR

## GOVERNMENT OF INDIA MINISTRY OF ENVIRONMENT, FOREST AND CLIMATE CHANGE

## LOK SABHA

## UNSTARRED QUESTION NO.1955

TO BE ANSWERED ON 14.03.2017

## Cleaning of Toxic Water Bodies

1955. DR.SHASHI THAROOR:

Will the Minister of ENVIRONMENT, FOREST AND CLIMATE CHANGE be pleased to state:

- (a) whether  the  Government  is  aware  that  the  Parvathy  Puthanar  canal,  which connects  Thiruvananthapuram  to  Veli  and  Kadinamkulam  lakes  in  the  State  of Kerala, has a high content of toxic water and if so, the reasons therefor;
- (b) whether  Parvathy  Puthanar  canal  was  the  site  of  a  major  accident  in  2011, when a school van plunged into the canal killing six children and their ayah, and that the toxicity of the water directly reduced their chance for survival;
- (c) if  so,  whether  the  Government  has formulated  any  national  policy  to  identify and clean toxic water bodies in the county; and
- (d) if so, the details thereof and if not, the reasons therefor?

## ANSWER

MINISTER OF STATE (INDEPENDENT CHARGE) FOR ENVIRONMENT, FOREST AND CLIMATE CHANGE (SHRI ANIL MADHAV DAVE)

- (a)    As per information provided by the Kerala State Pollution Control Board, the Parvathy  Puthanar  canal  is  polluted  mainly  due  to  discharge  of  untreated  waste water / sewage from nearby residential areas.
- (b)     As per various news items, the accident took place during February, 2011 in Parvathy Puthanar Canal due to rash driving and high speed of the school van.  It is also reported that the presence of aquatic weeds in the canal hampered the rescue operations.

(c) & (d)  State Governments/ concerned local bodies are responsible for setting up facilities  for  collection,  transportation  and  treatment  of  sewage  for  abatement  of pollution  of  rivers  and  other  water  bodies.  This  Ministry  has  been  supplementing the efforts of the State Governments in abatement of pollution in identified stretches of various rivers under National River Conservation Plan (NRCP). NRCP (excluding Ganga and its tributaries which is handled by Ministry of Water Resources, River Development  and  Ganga  Rejuvenation  from  01/08/2014  onwards)  has  covered polluted stretches of 31 rivers in 75 towns spread over 14 States at a sanctioned cost of Rs. 4517.82 crores. So far, sewage treatment capacity of 2445.71 million litres  per  day  (mld)  has  been  created  under  the  NRCP  programme  (excluding Ganga  &  its  tributaries).  In  addition,  under  the  scheme  of National  Plan  for Conservation of Aquatic Eco-systems (NPCA), financial assistance is provided to

the  State  Governments  for  conservation  of  identified  lakes  and  wetlands  in  the country, on  cost  sharing  basis  between  the  Central  Government  and  respective State Governments.  So far, an amount of Rs. 151.94 crores has been released to the  States  and  other  organizations  for  conservation  and  management  of  82 identified wetlands in the country under the NPCA. Also, projects for conservation of 63 lakes in 14 States at a total cost of Rs. 1096.09 crores have been sanctioned and an amount of Rs. 687.588 crores has so far been released for the sanctioned projects, and work on 34 lakes has been completed under the programme.

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