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Pollution control vessel to be ready by October

Special Correspondent

CHENNAI: The first sophisticated Pollution Control Vessel to patrol the seas for oil spills and other environmental exigencies is likely to be ready by October, Vice Admiral Rusi Contractor, Director General, Indian Coast Guard, said on Thursday.

Addressing the eleventh National Oil Spill Disaster Contingency Plan (NOSDCP) preparedness meeting here, Mr. Contractor said the proposed induction of at least three specialised vessels by mid-2009 would shorten the response time to an emergency.

Maritime laws

The Coast Guard chief highlighted the importance of enforcement of maritime laws. He said 90 per cent of trade was essentially sea-borne and substantial numbers of vessels were old and un-seaworthy or single-hull vessels and raised the risk of significant pollution of Indian waters.

Mr. Contractor said it was important that all oil stakeholders put in place a clear contingency plan, he said. They could pool resources and disaster management equipment, he said.

The Coast Guard chief said pollution remedy measures were being thought of following the various international conventions on environmental pollution that would also include exhaust and greenhouse gas emissions from ships and energy efficiency certification.

Environmental damage

The Coast Guard which shared a Memorandum of Understanding with its counterpart in South Korea had important lessons to learn from how the agencies there rallied to limit the environmental damage from a spill of about 10,000 tonnes of crude oil in December last year, Mr. Contractor said.

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