Recalling how the Indian Coast Guard was involved in the detection and clean-up of the oil spill in Ennore and surrounding areas, a senior officer on board ICGS SHAURYA on Friday, January 12, 2024, underlined the absence of private companies that specialised in cleaning up oil spills in this part of the country.
If the polluter could not clean up, there were private companies in the United States, Europe or Japan to tackle these situations, he said: “Unfortunately, in India, a few companies operate in major cities alone,” Coast Guard’s Regional Commander (Eastern Region) Inspector-General, Donny Michael, said.
There were such companies in Visakhapatnam and Mumbai but Chennai did not have such companies, he pointed out. While the T.N. Pollution Control Board had powers to issue warnings and towards the closure of polluting premises, the Coast Guard did not have such powers, he said, while talking to reporters.
When it was noticed that the oil spill came out of Kosasthalaiyar into the sea, the officer said that it was found that the drift was moving south and coming to the Marina. The Coast Guard responded, and it was stopped near the fishing harbour, he said.
Though for the first time the T.N. Pollution Control Board issued a notice warning of strict action to the Chennai Petroleum Corporation (CPCL), Mr. Michael said: “If they had closed down CPCL, within two days, entire petrol pumps will be dried up,” and hence its operation was allowed.
The officer said many such factors were taken into consideration and fortunately, it was ensured that all of theoil spill was removed, and said he personally visited and saw that what was left behind had “dried up”.
“We undertook three to four sorties to check each of the stages [of the operations],” he said and recalled his personal visits to check and confirm that there was no oil in the water body any longer.
As for what the Coast Guard could do in terms of oil spills, Mr. Michael said that the Coast Guard had large vessels and large pollution control equipment and response teams. He also recalled the services of the Coast Guard during the unprecedented rains in Thoothukudi district, where the Coast Guard saved 758 lives and distributed food to the tune of 7,000 metric tonnes to affected people.
