NGT sets one-month deadline to submit report on rejuvenation of Edappally, Perandoor canals

The indiscriminate discharge of untreated wastewater has taken a toll on the lifeline of the Perandoor canal in Kochi. A scene from near Thevara.
| Photo Credit: H. VIBHU

The National Green Tribunal (NGT) has directed the Kerala State Pollution Control Board (KSPCB) to submit the final report on the development of a process package treatment method to check pollution in the Edappally and Perandoor canals in Kochi, prepared by the Council of Scientific and Industrial Research-National Environmental Engineering Research Institute (CSIR-NEERI), Nagpur, within a month.

“Despite repeated directions to obtain the report from the CSIR-NEERI, there seems to be no progress. We direct the KSPCB to obtain the final report within a month,” said an order issued by Justice Pushpa Sathyanarayana, judicial member, and Satyagopal Korlapati, expert member, of the Southern Bench of the tribunal on March 21, 2025.

The Bench had been reminding the board about the delay in addressing the pollution issue in the canals after it took suo motu notice of a report titled “Faecal contamination high in Perandoor, Edappally Canals,” published in The Hindu in January 2021.

An order issued by the tribunal on August 20, 2024, said that the detailed project report (DPR) was not yet ready, though the KSPCB had assured it would take urgent action.

“This case has been pending since 2021 without any remedy. Therefore, we direct the CSIR-NEERI and the KSPCB to complete the study and submit the final report at the earliest,” the order added.

Senior board officials in Kochi said that a meeting was held on March 21, 2025, with representatives of the CSIR-NEERI, officials of the Irrigation department, and local bodies concerned to ensure compliance with the tribunal’s directive to submit the DPR.

The experts from the CSIR-NEERI had asked for further data on aspects such as the catchment area, water flow, and contour map as part of finalising their report. “We have now asked the Irrigation department to submit the relevant data,” they added.