About 40 ships have been stranded near the Indian coast, but there is no immediate threat to the marine environment. The situation is under control, said Union Minister for Environment and Forests Jayanthi Natarajan on Thursday.

She was addressing the media after reviewing the situation with senior officers of the Director General of Shipping, Coast Guards and Maharashtra Pollution Control Board.

The minister said that the situation is being monitored everyday and the regulations of the Shipping Ministry for such ships are being strictly followed. If required, the Environment Protection Law would be invoked against the shipping companies.

Natarajan said that after 2010 accident on the high seas near Mumbai, in which two ships had collided with each other, the Director General of Shipping has devised standard operating procedures, so that such incidents didn’t reoccur,

However, in the event of oil or chemical spills in the sea due to marine accidents, a fund needs to be created, which would be deployed for curtailing marine pollution, she said.

New fund

“After consultation with the Prime Minister, the government would be setting up a fund, which will have contribution from Ministry of Environment, Shipping and State environment protection bodies, which will deal with oil and chemical spills and other damage to the marine environment,” Natarajan said.

She pointed that the cleaning operation after the oil spills, often gets delayed due to lack of clarity, as to which agency will fund it. In such a scenario, a fund would be useful in immediately kick-starting the cleaning up operation, thereby limiting the damage to the environment. The money spent from the fund would be reimbursed, once the liability of the shipping company is established.

Regarding the two ships that are currently stranded near Mumbai’s coast, she said that the matter is within the control of the port authorities and there is no danger of marine pollution as there are hardly any petroleum products on the ships.

Shivaji statue

In a separate announcement, Natarajan said the Maharashtra Government has been granted in-principle approval for setting up a memorial for Chhatrapati Shivaji, on a rocky coast near Mumbai. The site of the memorial falls under no development zone but the ministry has made an exception, as the memorial is a very emotional issue for the people of Maharashtra.

The State Government will have to prepare a detailed project report and take permissions from 40 agencies before the project takes off the ground.

rahul.wadke@thehindu.co.in

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