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Mumbai: No major oil spills have so far hit India, but it is preparing to meet any catastrophe by deploying its first dedicated pollution control ship in September.
"A bigger vessel, 94 metres in length, fitted with the latest pollution control equipment will go a long way in handling environmental threats from oil spills," Inspector-General Rajendra Singh, the commander of Indian Coast Guard's (ICG) Western Region, told reporters aboard ICG ship Sangram.
The ICG, the nodal body for combating oil spills and ecological distress as per the National Oil Spill Disaster Contingency Plan (NOS-DCP), held a national level oil pollution response exercise on Friday at the Jawaharlal Nehru Port Trust (JNPT) harbour.
"In fact, a response centre to handle collisions is being set up in the Gulf of Kutch, Gujarat, a sensitive area in terms of oil being moved," he added.
Modalities
The World Bank has agreed to finance the centre and the modalities are being worked out now.
"With a large number of ports, facilities and private companies being involved in oil trade, exploration and movement, the threat posed to marine environment cannot be ruled out due to accidents and other incidents," said Singh.
To address such situations, the National Plan has been drawn by ICG to get all involved agencies - including the Maharashtra Pollution Control Board, the Mumbai Port Trust, Oil Exploration Board and others - to familiarise themselves with handling spills.
He conceded, however, that many of the small ports in the country do not have adequate equipment or skilled manpower to handle disastrous oil spills.
For instance, in May 2006 a Singapore vessel grounded off Karwar coast off Karnataka state, following rough sea conditions.
The vessel split into two, posing a serious threat to the environment, especially in Goa.
The ICG unit in Goa stepped up surveillance and sprayed oil dispersants over the spill since booms could not be used due to bad weather to stop the spread of the spill.
Skilled manpower
On Friday the ICG demonstrated by creating a spill scenario, the kind of logistics, in terms of equipment and skilled manpower, required to contain oil spills - the whole process depending on the nature of the spill and the weather conditions.
As per the NOS-DCP, all those involved are required to develop and have capabilities to address oil spills of 700 tonnes.
Since it is a costly process to clean up spills, different stakeholders are now trying to come together.
The overall national capability is 20,000 tonnes towards which the Coast Guard is making efforts to create the infrastructure, said Singh.
The exercise held every six months will be next held at a regional level in Chennai.
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