Why the NGT banned cruise boats in Madhya Pradesh

Subject: Environment

Section: pollution

Context:

The National Green Tribunal (NGT) in Bhopal recently ruled that operating cruise boats in various water bodies of Madhya Pradesh was illegal and cannot be allowed to continue in violation of various environmental laws.

Impact of the cruise ban:

Hampers the cruise ship tourism industry
It will impact the upcoming joint project of M.P, Maharashtra and Gujarat introducing the luxury cruise on Narmada river from Barwani to Statue of Unity in Gujarat..

Upper lake of Bhopal:

Created by constructing an earthen dam on the perennial River Kolans, a tributary of the Halali River.
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.
Lake diversity: more than 15 kinds of fishes and several vulnerable animals like turtles, amphibians and aquatic invertebrates and more than 2,500 migratory birds.

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

The MP State Tourism Policy 2016 was formulated to enable socio-economic development, to generate employment opportunities.
Rivers in M.P.: Narmada (longest river of M.P.), Son, Shipra, Tapti, Mahanadi, and Chambal. Godavari basin also forms a small part of the state.
Cruise ships in M.P. operates in: Indira Sagar Dam (Hanuwantiya island) and Omkareshwar Dam areas (Sailani island) in the Khandwa region and Bargi Dam in Jabalpur, Tawa Dam in Hoshangabad and in Gwalior’s Tigra Dam.

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, the NGT ruled that cruise ships with more than 12 passenger capacity were “clearly within the ambit of the statute”.
Inland water cruises have been governed by the Inland Vessels (IV) Act, 1917 later superseded by the IV Act, 2021, which also had provisions related to environmental protection.

Cruise ship tourism:

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 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 area are available in the ports of Mumbai, Cochin, Chennai, Goa and Visakhapatnam.