The Ministry of Ports, Shipping and Waterways on 22nd February 2022 has notified the Draft Inland Vessels [Prevention and Containment of Pollution] Rules 2022 and has invited objections or suggestions from the public which shall be addressed to the Director (IWT), Ministry of Ports, Shipping & Waterways, Room No. 439, Transport Bhawan, 1-Parliament Street, New Delhi110001, or by email at abhay.sarode@gov.in and uttam.mishra27@gov.in within a period of 30 days.
As per the Draft rules, No inland vessel shall be issued with the Prevention of Pollution Certificate envisaged under the Act by the Designated Authority, unless such vessel complies with requirements and standards for pollution prevention and containment including the physical design of the inland vessel or facilities that the inland vessel must carry, or those which are operational or procedural in nature, which the inland vessel is required to comply with, under these Rules
Equipment and types of machinery are required to be carried on board, shall be under Bureau of Indian Standards / International Organisation of Standards
Garbage shall be discharged to shore facilities and suitable arrangements for the retention of garbage on board shall be provided. Shore reception facility for the purpose of this section of the rules means a local storage facility (receptacles, bins etc.) provided by the terminal/local authority or an entity authorised by the terminal/local authority/state government to collect the garbage.
Every inland vessel of 10m or more in length shall display placards informing the crew and passengers of the disposal requirements of garbage and every inland vessel certified to carry 50persons or more shall carry a garbage management plan and maintain a garbage record bookers alternative method of logging the disposal of garbage. The requirement to maintain a garbage record book may be waived for a vessel engaged on a voyage of four hours or less.
