Lok Sabha Question No. 1830 (UNSTARRED), answered on 2018-07-27
Subject: Oil Spills Disaster
Ministry: ENVIRONMENT,  FORESTS AND CLIMATE CHANGE
Asked by: OM BIRLA

## GOVERNMENT OF INDIA MINISTRY OF ENVIRONMENT, FOREST AND CLIMATE CHANGE

## LOK SABHA UNSTARRED QUESTION No. 1830

TO BE ANSWERED ON27.07.2018

## Oil Spills Disaster

## 1830. SHRI OM BIRLA:

Will the Minister of ENVIRONMENT, FOREST AND CLIMATE CHANGE be pleased to state:

- (a) the details of incidents of oil spills disaster which had occurred in the Indian Ocean during the last four years;
- (b) whether the Government has prepared any policy for tackling/handling the incidents of oil spillage in the Indian waters for prevention of damage to the flora and aquatic life cycle and if so, the salient features along with the details of the policy thereof;
- (c) if  not,  the  reasons  therefor  along  with  any  ongoing  proposal  of  the  Government  to have such policy in the future;
- (d) whether the Government has conducted any survey as to estimate the environmental damage which has been done because of the oil spillages and if so, the details thereof; and
- (e) if not, the reasons therefor?

## ANSWER

## MINISTER  OF  STATE  IN  THE  MINISTRY  OF  ENVIRONMENT,  FOREST  AND CLIMATE CHANGE (DR. MAHESH SHARMA)

- (a) According  to  Indian  Coast  Guard  (ICG),  following  incidents  of  oil  spills  were reported in Indian Ocean region during last four years:
- (b)&(c) As per the Allocation of Business Rules, 1961 (amendment 2002), ICG is nodal agency for dealing with the incidents of oil spill within territorial limits of India. The ICG has established Pollution Response Team (PRT) at Mumbai, Chennai and Port  Blair.  Another  PRT  has  been  approved  for  Vadinar  (Gujarat).  To  augment pollution response efforts, ICG has commissioned three dedicated pollution control Vessels based at Porbandar, Mumbai and Vizag. Apart from the above, other Coast Guard ships and aircrafts are also utilized during pollution response operation. The ICG  is  entrusted  with  the  responsibility  of  surveillance  of  maritime  zones  and

| Location and date of incident                                  | Quantity                 | Reason of Spill                                                |
|----------------------------------------------------------------|--------------------------|----------------------------------------------------------------|
| Drill Ship- Platinum Explorer (ONGC) off Paradip on 22.08.2014 | 80 Barrels (App. 3.8 KL) | Inadvertent internal transfer during drilling operations.      |
| Off Kamarajar Port, Ennore, Tamilnadu on 28.01.2017            | 196.4 Metricton          | Collisionbetween MT Dawn Kanchlpuram, and MT BW Mapia.         |
| Outer Anchorage Mumbai Harbour on 30.01.2018                   | 2-3 Drums of Bunker Oil  | Accidental spillage during bunker transfer on MT Jipro Neftis. |

coordinating authority for combating of oil pollutionagainst oil  spills;  combating oil spills (except for waters in ports and within 500 metres of off-shore exploration and production platforms, coastal refineries and associated facilities); implementing National Contingency Plan for Oil Spill Disaster(NOS-DCP) which obliges  all  ports  (Major  and  Non-major  Ports),  Oil  handling  agencies  and  Oil installations onshore to maintain pollution response equipment for Tier-I response (i.e.  Oil  Spills  up  to  700  tons)  &coastal  State  Administration  to  be  suitably equipped  for  undertaking  shoreline  clean-up  in  their  area  of  responsibility  and conducting  regular  training  and  national  level  pollution  response  exercise  with active  participation  of  stakeholders  viz.  Ports,  Oil  handling  agencies  with  last training conducted on December20-21, 2016 in Gulf of Kutch.

- (e)&(f) Survey of environmental damages resulting from oil spills and follow-up actions commensurate to  damages  are  undertaken  by  concerned  agencies  in  Central  and State  Government.  The  efforts  made  by  Government  in  this  regard inter-alia include the following:
-  Implementation of NOS-DCP for oil spill response by ICG; and
-  Implementation  of  provisions  of  MARPOL,  an  International  Convention comprising  of  regulations  aimed  at  preventing  and  minimising  pollution from  ships  (both  accidental  and  operational),  by  Directorate  General  of Shipping.

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