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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 11th 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.

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.

He 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.

The Coast Guard, which shared an MoU with its counterpart in South Korea, had important lessons to learn from how the agencies there rallied to limit the damage from an oil spill. He pointed out that none of 10 accidents involving vessels during 2007 in Indian waters had resulted in an oil spill.

He called for multi-agency coordination to put in place effective disaster management protocols. The Coast Guard had initiated training programmes for stakeholders in oil spill response capabilities.

K. Suresh, Chairman of the Chennai Port Trust — which hosted the meet — said the dimensions of potential disaster on the seas had grown in proportion to the increase in the number of vessels. In this scenario, it was prudent for agencies concerned to be fully geared to meet any eventuality.

Commandant S.K. Singh, secretary, NOSDCP, said it was proposed to establish pollution cells at newly commissioned stations under the NOSDCP.

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