CHENNAI: The oil slick that was creating havoc in north Chennai for the past 10 days has now reached Pulicat coastal waters and inland Buckingham Canal, which is tidally connected to the Pulicat Bird Sanctuary.
Pictures shared by local fishermen with TNIE on Saturday showed the presence of thick tar-like oil balls along the coastline between Koraikuppam and Kattupalli. Although the quantity was not alarming, the fact that oil slick managed to reach Pulicat is worrisome as these waters are rich fishing grounds for over 30 coastal villages and a biodiversity hotspot for thousands of migratory birds that congregate every year.
R Vinod, a fisherman from Koraikuppam, said fishermen started seeing the tar-like oil sludge beaching on the coastline since Saturday afternoon. “The smell of oil was noticed both in sea water and Buckingham canal. We received information about oil sludge on the Pulicat bar mouth too.”
Photographs show the legs and hands of women who make a living collecting dead shells covered with greasy oil and black oil sludge.
When contacted, a senior government official said the tar balls found in Pulicat coast were the last stage of oil spill dispersal. “Once volatile compounds evaporate, the remaining matter becomes tar balls. All oil escaped into the ocean will form into tar balls and will beach in coming days before the north and south of Ennore. This is expected in oil spill areas.”
Durai Mahendran, general secretary, Tiruvallur District Traditional United Fishermen Association, claimed fish kill being reported in some places. “We request Chief Minister MK Stalin to intervene and offer relief to the fishermen.”
Officials from the fisheries department, Tamil Nadu Pollution Control Board and Ponneri tahasildar visited Pulicat to take stock of the situation.
Report says no oil sludge on surface of seawater
A report filed by the authorities claimed that there is no oil sludge on the surface of sea water. Environmental engineer, who was part of the team, said the situation would be monitored continuously and an inspection will be carried out on Sunday as well.
The local block development officer has asked Minjur panchayat union officials to give safety equipment including gloves to sanitary workers in the respective panchayats and make them collect the oil sludge accumulated on the beach.
Meanwhile, a high-level coordination meeting was convened at the Oil Spill Management Coordination Centre by additional chief secretary Supriya Sahu to review the oil mitigation work. “The primary focus was on accelerating the oil recovery process and comprehensively covering the impacted area under the mitigation plan,” Sahu said.
The impacted area has now been categorised into four stretches for the purpose of intensive review and mitigation. Each stretch will be taken care of by a dedicated team with the objective to complete the process of mitigation by December 18-19, authorities said.
The Chennai Petroleum Corporation Limited, which is the alleged source of the oil spill, has deployed more oil removal equipment and materials received from Paradip and Mumbai.
Two additional containment booms of 300 mts and 50 mts have been deployed in addition to the four layers of booms already placed at Ennore creek area.
In addition to the two oil skimmers that were in operation, four more oil skimmers from Mumbai and Paradip have been kept ready. The oil level in the containment zone is now low. As of now, four specialized agencies are in place with around 182 trained personnel for the operation.
“Mechanized cleaning efforts have successfully cleared two out of five shore villages and the remaining areas will be completed within 2-3 days. It is being ensured that all workmen involved in the clean-up use Personal Protective Equipment,” a press release said.
MINOR FIRE AT CPCL
A minor fire broke out in the metal scrap yard of CPCL on Saturday noon. The fire was put-off within five minutes, said TNPCB officials. The site was inspected by the environmental engineer of the Board and the reason behind the accident was learnt to be auto ignition of pyrophoric material (corroded metal dust) in the yard. Sources said there was damage to the property but operations were unaffected