A massive pollution control exercise was held on Friday when the Indian Coast Guard demonstrated its preparedness to effectively intervene in containing an oil spill at the fourth edition of the National Pollution Response Exercise Clean Sea-4.
Indian Coast Guard Ship (ICGS) Samudra Prahari, India’s first pollution control vessel, Advanced Offshore Patrol Vessels (AOPVs) ICGS Samar, Sangram and Sankalp, Fast Patrol Vessels (FPVs) ICGS Kasturba Gandhi, Savitri Bai Phule, two Fast Attack Crafts (FACs), three Chetak helicopters, two Dornier aircraft, Ocean Going Tug of Indian Navy INS Matanga, Shipping Corporation of India (SCI) Tanker MT Motilal Nehru and vessels from the wCochin Port Trust took part in the exercise which saw the mobilisation of the majority of resources available in the west coast of India.
The exercise commenced with a demonstration of near harbour containment by the deployment of river booms by the Cochin Port Trust vessels under the supervision of the Coast Guard personnel.
A heli skimmer was also used in the operation.
Another important aspect of the exercise was the beach cleaning effort in coordination with the state administration.
The outer sea oil spill containment was tested and demonstrated using MT Motilal Nehru, the SCI tanker simulating as the vessel in distress.
Coast Guard Fast Attack Crafts, Fast Patrol Vessels, helicopters, Advanced Offshore Patrol Vessels and aircraft were used to contain it using ocean booms, skimmers and oil spill dispersers.
The extraction of oil using side sweeping arms and skimmers and storage by barges were also demonstrated.
The Indian Coast Guard is responsible for the marine environment protection in the maritime zones of India.
It is the first time that the exercise is being conducted here.
The first three editions of the exercise were carried out in Mumbai.
On Friday, the exercise was witnessed by Vice-Admiral M P Muralidharan, director general of the Indian Coast Guard, inspector general S P S Basra, commander Coast Guard region (west), IG K R Nautiyal deputy director general (operations), district headquarters no.
4 commander DIG T K S Chandran, and officials from the ONGC, BPCL, state maritime boards, Cochin Port Trust and the Pollution Control Boards.