Oil leak plugged, but Maha govt has tough task ahead-09/08/2010

09/08/2010

Oil leak plugged, but Maha govt has tough task ahead

Mumbai: While the source of the oil spill off the Mumbai shore was plugged on Monday evening, the Maharashtra government has said it will take a month to clean up the coast where the slick spread after two Panamian cargo vessels collided with each other last Saturday. The state's Environment Minister Suresh Shetty said all tehsildars would collect water samples from coastal areas and check it to gauge the expanse of the spill. The checks would be carried out along the coastline from Raj Bhavan to Mandwa in Raigadh.



Shetty said Environment Secretary Valsa Nair Singh would monitor this exercise. Shetty also said the state has an action plan ready to combat the possible eventuality of the spill reaching the coastline. Shetty also said the Coast Guard had been asked to give a list of the equipment they need to clear the spill. He said of the 1,219 containers one of the vessels was carrying, nearly 250 have fallen into the sea. It is not known exactly what these containers contain.

Two Panamanian cargo ships -- MSC Chitra and Merchant Vessel Khalijia -- collided off the Mumbai coast on Saturday causing the spill from Chitra. The oil is the ship's fuel. Arun Singh, Commandant (Operations), Coast Guard has said MSC Chitra tilted 80 degrees and the total oil spill was nearly 50 tonnes.

Earlier, Prime Minister Manmohan Singh has called for a report from the Shipping Ministry on the oil spill that continues to ooze out of Panamanian cargo vessel MSC Chitra which collided with another cargo vessel MSC Khalijia on Saturday. The Centre said legal action has been initiated against the owners of the two cargo ships.
"Maharashtra State Pollution Control Board has already initiated legal action against the owners of the ships," Environment Minister Jairam Ramesh told Rajya Sabha during Zero Hour while responding to members' concerns over the issue. He said the government would make a detailed statement on the issue in Parliament tomorrow.

Two Panamanian cargo ships - MSC Chitra and Merchant Vessel Khalijia - collided off the Mumbai coast on Saturday causing an oil-spill from Chitra. Raising the issue, Shantaram Luxman Naik (Congress) said the incident has put the fishing community of the area in "deep trouble" and asked why there was not even a preliminary statement from the concerned authority.



"Those responsible for the collision of two vessels in the Mumbai sea should be arrested... Why have no arrests been made till today? If two motor vehicles collide, the drivers are put immediately behind bars," Naik said. He also expressed surprise on why there was no traffic management in the area and said thousands of litres of fuel have spilled into Mumbai sea posing a serious threat to the environment.

He demanded that Mumbai authorities take the task of grounding the ship expeditiously with minimum spillage of the oil. "The damage will be far more if it is not salvaged soon," he added. The minister assured the member and the House that coast guards and the state pollution board officials were at the site. BJP's Rajiv Pratap Rudy said people affected by the oil spill should be given compensation



Meanwhile, the MSC Chitra tilted 80 degrees and the total oil spill is nearly 50 tonnes, said Arun Singh, Commandant (Operations), Coast Guard. He said so far, 300 containers carrying oil have tumbled into the water.

A worried Chief Minister Ashok Chavan said, "This is a serious issue. We have already filed cases against the captains of the two ships which are from abroad. Today, I am going to have an aerial look at the accident site". "We are trying to contain the leak as far as possible," he said.



The Navy and the Coast Guards carried out anti-pollution operations for the third consecutive day today to check and neutralise the oil spill. Six coastguard vessels and a helicopter with anti-pollution dispersal spray systems were pressed into service yesterday to contain the oil spill.

A high-level meeting, to be attended by the officials of the Maharashtra government Environment Department, National Disaster Response Force, Brihanmumbai Municipal Corporation, Shipping department, Mumbai Port Trust and other concerned agencies has been convened to assess the situation and steps to be taken to bring it under control, sources said.

Fishing associations have been also requested not to carry out fishing activities till the oil spill is contained, officials said. Officials are yet to locate the leakage.

Source: The Indian Express