Will use electric motor boats at Pykara lake in future, TTDC assures Madras High Court

The Tamil Nadu Tourism Development Corporation (TTDC) on Friday (February 13, 2026) informed the Madras High Court it shall endeavour to replace the petrol outboard motor boats (OMBs) with electric OMBs at Pykara lake near Udhagamandalam (Ooty) in the Nilgiris district.

In a status report submitted before a special Division Bench of Justices N. Sathish Kumar and D. Bharatha Chakravarthy, constituted to hear forest and environment related cases, the TTDC Managing Director said, the corporation will purchase only electric OMBs in future.

The submission was made after the court, assisted by amici curiae T. Mohan, Chevanan Mohan, Rahul Balaji and M. Santhanaraman, raised concerns over the operation of high speed boats that use fossil fuels and generate a lot of noise thereby causing harm to the pristine environment.

Responding to the concerns raised by the court, the TTDC MD said, the corporation at present uses only petrol OBMs and not diesel OBMs. “The petrol OBMs generate minimal engine noise and do not cause any sound pollution that would disturb wildlife or other species in the surrounding environment,” the MD asserted.

The court was told the petrol OBMs at the Pykara Boat House were maintained well and there had been no oil leakage into the water body at any stage of the operation. Steps had been taken to ensure the water does not get polluted with harmful contaminants which could impact aquatic life, the MD said.

Further, clarifying the boating activities were not carried out within any core forest area, the TTDC said, the Boat House was located on a land belonging to Tamil Nadu Electricity Board and it had been taken on lease by the corporation for a period of 31 years.

“No forest land is involved in the operation. Hence, there is no disturbance to wildlife movement or ecological balance in forest areas due to the boating activities,” the MD said and added it had enforced a strict ban on plastic materials in and around the boating area.

“Continuous monitoring is undertaken to ensure compliance with the plastic ban, and necessary measures are in place to maintain cleanliness and environmental safety within the premises,” the TTDC said and informed the court of having decided to introduce glass water bottle system at its hotels in Udhagamandalam region.

Stating high speed boating activities, using jet ski and other speed boats, was the main tourist attraction at the Pykara lake; the TTDC MD said, any sudden stoppage of the operation of the petrol OBMs would cause disappointment among tourists besides resulting in huge loss of revenue to the corporation.

To protect the environment, the corporation assured the High Court it would gradually convert the existing petrol OBMs into electric OBMs within a reasonable period of time, so that the ongoing operation of the boathouse does not get affected, and it would not purchase any petrol OBM in future.