CHENNAI: The Tamil Nadu government on Wednesday said as many as 75 boats and 300 personnel have been deployed for oil spill mitigation work at Ennore in north Chennai.
The Chennai Petroleum Corporation Limited has been directed by the government to further ramp up mitigation work by deploying more boomers, skimmers and trained manpower.
The State Oil Crisis Management Group held its meeting under the chairmanship of Chief Secretary Shiv Das Meena, an official release here said, adding senior government officials and CPCL authorities participated.
The panel reviewed the mitigation work underway in the Ennore Creek area beside the impacted villages.
The committee was informed (by the CPCL officials) that the mitigation work was on, in full swing.
The government has tasked the CPCL to ensure that all precautionary measures are taken during the mitigation work to safeguard the health and safety of people engaged in the operation.
CPCL has been categorically told to ensure that protective gear and safety equipment were provided to the teams engaged in the work.
In order to speed up the mitigation work, 75 boats and 300 personnel have been pressed into service. These boats are involved in the suction of oil from the surface and transporting it safely to the shore. Four gully sucker machines have been deployed to suck the oil from the water surface. Cleaning oil-soaked debris from nearby villages had begun. Boomers were put in place to contain the spread of oil.
An oil skimmer machine was pressed into service to extract oil from the creek. Four more oil skimmers are planned to be deployed in the next two days.
On the health front, the government outlined mobile health camps for people and special camp for stray and pet animals.
Teams from the forest department, TN Pollution Control Board and the environment department have been deployed to monitor the ongoing work.
Senior officers including Additional Chief Secretary (Environment) Supriya Sahu made frequent visits to the site to oversee the operations.
The Oil Crisis Management Group directed the Commissioner, Greater Chennai Corporation and Director of Fisheries to undertake a comprehensive review of affected families and submit a report to the Relief Commissioner.