Abdul Wahab Khan
Panaji
Following joint inspections of all six floating casinos anchored in the Mandovi, a 13-member monitoring committee has directed the Goa State Pollution Control Board (GSPCB) to verify and amend the consent to operate for the vessels to rectify discrepancies in SO2 (sulphur dioxide) limits.
Executed in strict compliance with the National Green Tribunal’s (NGT) directives in the long-standing matter of Sudip Tamankar v/s Union of India, the inspections have revealed a complex web of operational compliance and recurring procedural violations by the vessels permanently docked within a 500-metre radius of each other in the Mandovi.
Details revealed by Chief Minister Pramod Sawant in a written response to MLA Viresh Borkar during the ongoing Assembly session have highlighted critical procedural lapses, prompting a series of pointed recommendations from the high-powered
panel.
The committee consisted of senior principal scientists from CSIR-NIO, professors from NIT Goa, officials from the Captain of Ports,  PWD, CCP, GSPCB and a GCZMA field surveyor.
The panel conducted 20 joint site visits, most recently on February 11, 2025, to verify that these ‘orange category’ industries are not detrimental to the river, which receives tributaries like at Mapusa, Khandepar, and Bicholim before discharging into the Arabian Sea.
Following the recent 20th joint inspection, the committee issued a series of recommendations to address persistent documentation failures.
GSPCB has been directed to verify and amend the consent to operate for all six casinos to rectify discrepancies in SO2 (sulphur dioxide) limits, which is a recurring violation also noted during the 16th and 18th inspections held in 2021 and 2024.
The panel observed that the permissible limits for SO2 prescribed in the consent to operate issued to the casinos are not consistent and there are discrepancies in the limits. Also, there are no calibration certificates attached with emission monitoring reports.
The committee suggested that the vessels must maintain records of calibration certificates towards emission monitoring reports.
Pointing out that the DG sets on these vessels operate continuously rather than as backups, the committee has mandated that stack emission monitoring be carried out quarterly instead of annually, with reports submitted mandatory to GSPCB.
A major focus of the latest directives is the management of plastic and solid waste. The committee observed that plastic waste generation is increasing compared to previous terms, leading to a mandate for casino operators to carry out a detailed inventory of plastic types to explore minimisation strategies.
Furthermore, the floating casinos must now provide black bins clearly labelled for metal and glass waste, which were found missing during inspections.
GSPCB has been directed to collect river water samples from three strategic points—upstream, near the vessels, and downstream—to assess the real impact of these operations on the Mandovi’s ecology.
Inspection reports of the panel confirmed that sewage is collected in holding tanks and transferred to the sewage barge under strict supervision to the PWD STP at Tonca, with discharge line is sealed after transfer of waste.
Some issues were observed for two particular casino vessels during 17th inspection held in May 2022, where dry waste register figures were found mismatching with computerised hard copy submissions, prompting a demand for the Corporation of the City of Panaji to join future inspections for verification.
