New regulations soon for fish transporting vehicles

Mangaluru: Lorry owners have been told to install a tank in the vehicle to collect the waste drippings. This was told to them during a meeting of fish transportation lorry owners, the Police Department and the district administration recently, said DCP (Crime and Traffic) Lakshmi Ganesh K speaking to the media.

Complaints regarding the spill have been voiced at every weekly police phone-in programme conducted at the Mangaluru City Police Commissionerate. Media too have highlighted the problem faced by the people due to the dripping. The waste water dripping from the vehicles contain fish oils and rotten material which have an offensive smell and cause much trouble to vehicle riders as the two-wheelers skid on the roads dampened by the oily wastewater. Meanwhile the foul smell emanating from the drippings affected all including the pedestrians.

A new regulation will be stringently applied on all fish transporting vehicles soon. The Fisheries Department has been asked to check the fish transportation lorries for the requirement of waste collection tank and insulator at the starting point itself. Any fish transporting lorry with a capacity of one tonne should contain a tank of 50-litre capacity. The fish should be transported in insulated vehicles only. Vehicle owners must to clean the lorries on a regular basis.

Regional Transportation Authority will issue an order in this regard soon. First time violators will be fined Rs 5,000 and the vehicle permit will be seized on second offence, he informed.