Mulls maritime boards in coastal states, measures to control toxic leakage after havoc caused by city oil slick.
The recent oil spill at the Mumbai harbour following the collision of two merchant vessels exposed gaping holes in the preparedness to tackle such emergencies. Wiser after the experience, the Union government has chalked out a series of measures to spruce up marine disaster management operations.
To start with, it has proposed a scheme under which the oil cess
being collected at ports could be utilised to fight pollution caused by oil spills. Besides, all coastal states will now be required to set up maritime boards.
Union shipping minister GK Vasan told this to the media after the conclusion of the 12th meeting of the Maritime States Development Council in Chennai on Tuesday.
“The two-day meeting, attended by ministers from Orissa, Gujarat, Kerala, Tamil Nadu and officials from other maritime states, deliberated on several issues. We arrived at some important decisions,” Vasan said.
The Mumbai Port Trust and the Jawaharlal Nehru Port Trust had to suffer heavy loses as the navigational route remained closed for five days after the accident. Also, there was no appropriate plan with the state or the Coast Guard to combat the oil spill.
“It was agreed that maritime states would prepare an oil spill contingency plan. While the Coast Guard is equipped and responsible for handling oil spills of significant magnitude, all ports may prepare themselves for addressing smaller spills,” Vasan stated.
Other than the spill, containers loaded on the grounded vessel, MSC Chitra, kept falling into the sea as it tilted. Many of the containers floated to distant locations, while many submerged, causing threat to navigation in the channel. The Navy’s help was taken to escort vessels in and out of the channel. The meeting discussed this issue too.
Vasan also highlighted the need to enhance disaster
management capabilities and preparedness of ports in handling incidents such as the chlorine gas leak. The meeting agreed that guidelines would be issued to all maritime boards and maritime states to ensure safe and prompt handling of hazardous chemicals and goods.
“Another issue is maritime security from both the shipping and port perspectives. Thirteen projects have been awarded in 2009-10 under public-private partnership, involving an investment of Rs2,653.41 crore,” he stated.
The meeting also decided to formulate a policy on promoting coastal shipping with adequate incentives as a “green mode” of transportation among maritime states.
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