CHENNAI: Over a 1,000 workers, including volunteers, chipped in to clean up Bharatiyar Nagar Beach in Ernavur, which is the worst-hit by oil spill. After trying out various options, officials decided that the only way to remove the sludge was manually, through buckets. Following this, a large number of workers turned up at the beach on Tuesday.
Wearing uniforms, the workers did not mind the heat or the sticky crude oil on their skin as they passed bucket after bucket to be emptied into water tankers, even posing for pictures every now and then. Workers spread foam on the water, hoping it would absorb the oil, but they depended on buckets to scoop out the sludge.
Volunteers from the Tree Foundation, employees of Coast Guards, Chennai Port Trust, Kamarajar Port, various shipping companies like Anglo Eastern Group, Sea Eagle Bulk Shipping, Maersk, Bernhard Schulte Shipmanagement, maritime training centres like the Hindustan Centre for Maritime Management and also companies like L&T brought their workers to help remove the crude oil.
The Chennai Port Trust laid out float booms to push any scattered patches of the oil back to the shore. The State Fire services, including the Kamarajar Port Fire services, also reached the spot. Officials also tried to use the CMWSSB (Metrowater) sewage tankers to remove the oil, but only 15% of the viscous oil could be sucked. “After trying other options, we finally decided it would be faster to remove it manually,” said Manimegalai, tahsildar, Tiruvottriyur, who visited the area.
Tiruvallur Collector Sundaravalli also visited the shore. “We are doing our best to ensure that things return to normal,” she said and added that 1,000 workers from various State departments and volunteers would be at the spot on Wednesday. While officials had initially said the waste oil would be taken to a waste oil recycler, on Tuesday the officials said it would be first taken to MRL refinery. “It will be processed and tested to see if there can be any use of it and then it will be disposed of appropriately,” said Senthil Kumar, Chennai Port Trust. Cyril C George, deputy chairman, Chennai Port Trust said the area would be clean by Wednesday.
“We will work through the night. We have asked for flood lights in the area to make it easy for the workers,” he said.