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The Eleventh National Oil Spill Disaster Contingency Plan (NOS-DCP) and Preparedness Meeting was held at Chennai Port Trust, Chennai on 24th Apr 08. The Director General, Indian Coast Guard chaired the meeting. Seventy three delegates from various resource agencies and organisations participated in the meeting.
The Chairman, Chennai & Tuticorin Port Trust Shri K Suresh, welcomed all the delegates to 11th NOS-DCP Meeting at Chennai. In his welcome address, the Chairman Chennai Port Trust expressed his concern over the climatic changes taking place due to pollution and the resulting damage to the environment. He lauded the role of the Indian Coast Guard in monitoring the preparedness and capabilities of various stakeholders and also reiterated that all agencies are to work for a clean and safe marine environment so as to leave behind a safe and sustainable world for future generation.
Vice Admiral RF Contractor, AVSM, NM, Chairman NOSDCP in his inaugural address thanked the Chairman, Chennai & Tuticorin Port Trust Shri K Suresh, for hosting the 11th NOSDCP meeting. He welcomed all the delegates and expressed his satisfaction over the progress made by the resource agencies and stakeholders.
The Chairman impressed upon the delegates for early formulation of local contingency plans and positioning of Tier-1 facilities. He also expressed his concern over the climate change issues which are taking place due to global warming and stressed the need for coordinated actions from regulators and the industry to protect the environment so as to give the future generation a pollution free and sustainable world. The Chairman drew the attention of the audience towards the collision incident of drifting barge with VLCC Hebei Spirit in the port of Incheon, South Korea (resulted in a spill of about 10,000 tonnes of crude oil) leading to a major environment disaster, and stated that about 20,000 personnel and all available resources were mobilised to respond to this disaster. He informed that the response operations served as an eye opener and such an incident could happen anywhere, anytime and preventive activities and preparatory measures can only enable the responders to address such issue effectively. The collision of tug Dhan Lakshmi and MV Star Leikanger off Jakhau on 15 Oct 07 reminded everyone of the need for preparing effective contingency plans and acquiring Tier-1 pollution response facilities at the earliest to combat such eventualities.
The Chairman also expressed his concern about the unseaworthy ships plying in our waters and also highlighted the high risk of pollution threat posed by the transiting of VLCC and ULCCs close to our coast and island territories. He urged all Govt authorities to institute appropriate measure in this regard. The Chairman stressed the importance of training of personnel and requested all concerned to avail the training provided by the Indian Coast Guard and also exercise their personnel regularly to meet any eventuality and keep their pollution response equipment operational at all times. He further emphasised the need for interoperability of equipment among the resource agencies.
Finally the Chairman called upon the port and oil handling agencies to establish an effective MoU where the need for resource pooling is required and take actions for acquisition of Tier-1 facilities in a time bound manner.
The Secretary, NOS-DCP & Director (Fisheries and Environment), CGHQ briefed the participants about the developments at the national level since last NOS-DCP meeting.
There were five presentations arranged for the benefit of the members during the meeting. The first presentation was on “Guidelines on use of Oil Spill Dispersants” by Dr SP Fondekar, Dy Director, NIO. The presentation highlighted various aspect of Oil Spill Dispersant including testing parameters, consequences of using OSD, the reaction of OSD with oil, etc. The second presentation was on “Oil Pollution Control by New Mangalore Port Trust” by Shri N Rajapoopathi, Pollution Control Officer, New Mangalore Port Trust. The presentation highlighted the policy being adopted by NMPT in checking oil pollution with in the harbour and penalisation of offenders thereby ensuring clean waters in their port limits. The third presentation was on “Environmental Sensitivities in West Coast” by Commandant SD Sonak, Dy O i/C, Coast Guard Pollution Response Team (West). The presentation highlighted the sensitive and important areas in the West coast, sources of pollution, resources for pollution response, human resource and training and issues related to NOSDCP. The fourth presentation was on “Oil Spill Models” by Dr RS Kankara, Scientist E, ICMAM-PD. The last presentation on “Oil Spill Contingency on Eastern Sea Board” was given by Deputy Inspector General BS Yadav, O i/C, Coast Guard Pollution Response Team (East).
The important issues which were discussed and deliberated upon during the meeting included the major oil spill exercise and training, procurement of Tier-1 facilities, use of oil spill dispersant, preparation of Local Contingency Plan, software for combating oil spills, procurement of pollution control vessels for ports, inclusion of new ports under NOSDCP, oil spill response centre at Gulf of Kutch region etc.
The Chairman while summing up, thanked all stakeholders for attending this meeting and lauded the efforts put in by the representatives of ICMAM-PD, NIO and NMPT for their informative presentations. He emphasized the need to follow up various decisions, which have been taken during the meeting in order to enhance sysnergised preparedness to combat oil spills in Indian waters. |
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DG ICG Delivering Opening Address |
Presentation of Momento by DG ICG to Chairman, Chennai Port Trust |
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For details of the NOSDCP Proceedings please click here |
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© 2008 INDIAN COAST GUARD, Ministry Of Defence, Government Of INDIA |
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