CHENNAI: Several gully sucker machines and Oil Control Brooms were deployed at the Ennore Creek on Tuesday to contain the oil spillage, reportedly caused by the public sector Chennai Petroleum Corporation Limited, and to expedite the mitigation work on clearing the sludge after State Chief Secretary Shiv Das Meena personally visited the site on Monday to reviewed the extent of the spillage.
Meena also a chaired a high level committee meeting of the State Oil Spill Crisis Management Group to discuss the means to speed up the process, besides taking immediate steps to alleviate the sufferings of stakeholders like requisitioning dermatologists to treat people affected by the spillage that had also entered residential localities due to the floods.
A team of officials have been mobilized to carry out mitigation measures to affected families, including those of fishermen in the region, besides bringing in agencies specializing in such oil spillage management from the Chennai and Ennore ports.
Those agencies, besides deploying the gully suckers that would absorb excess oil, would also erect oil barriers to prevent the sludge from travelling to other parts of the main water bodies that are under threat – the Buckingham Canal, the River Kosasthalaiyar and also the Kasimedu Harbour region.
During the field visit by the Chief Secretary and other officials it was found that the oil, leaked from the premises of the CPCL, had already impacted the lives of people in the nearby fishing villages, besides revealing significant oil deposits in the Ennore Creek Area.
Since the oil mixed with water had entered houses spoiling the personal belonging of the residents and adversely impacting their livelihood as boats were found to be coated with oil, the Chennai district collector and the Greater Chennai Corporation had been directed to enumerate the number of families affected by the oil spillage.
Though CPCL had initially denied that the oil leak was from its Manali plant when reports first came out about the spillage spreading to various village and contaminating the water, a team, headed by the member secretary of Tamil Nadu Pollution Control Board (TNPCB) and comprising experts from Anna University, NEERI, Central Pollution Control Board and Coast Guard concluded that the spillage was from CPCL.
The Department of Environment, Climate Change and Forests (ECCF) has launched a biodiversity assessment and carried out the mitigation work in coordination with the TNPCB and other departments of Animal Husbandry, Dairying, Fisheries and Fishermen Welfare, Revenue and Disaster Management and Health.
TNPCB had taken CPCL to task after its technical team found the storm water management in CPCL was inadequate. Among the slew of directions issued was one to identify hotspots in the Buckingham Canal, Ennore Creek and adjoining areas where the oil deposits or slicks had stagnated and take immediate remedial measures in a war footing.
Another direction stated that CPCL would be liable to pay environmental compensation to the families adversely impacted due to the oil spill including the loss of livelihood.
CPCL and its secondary units and terminals were asked to ensure that all pipelines, both carrying raw materials and products, and tanks had no leakage and warned of action under the provisions of Water (Prevention and Control of Pollution) Act, 1974, and suspension of operations if they were not found to be leak-proof.
Also the TNPCB wanted CPCL to carry out a leak detection and repair study with the help of a reputed technical institution and undertake a comprehensive mapping study with a reputed technical institution to identify oil spread areas and furnish the reports to the Board immediately.
