Indian Coast Guard reviews preparedness to tackle oil spills

The Indian Coast Guard, which is the central coordinating authority and the primary agency for coordinating oil spill response, yesterday reviewed contingency plans and the preparedness of various agencies in making an emergency response to any accidental oil spills.

The review meeting has been called in the light of the Gulf of Mexico Deepwater oil spill and issues emanating from it.

Vice Admiral Anil Chopra, director-general of Indian Coast Guard, presided over the 15th `National Oil Spill Disaster Contingency Plan and Preparedness Meeting' (NOSDCP), at Dehradun, on Friday.

About 70 delegates from various government departments, ports, oil industry, oil exploration units and state maritime boards attended the meeting.

The meeting deliberated on the problem areas pertaining to safety of offshore installations and the preparedness level of the oil industries to meet any exigencies from any oil spill.

Two presentations on `Floating production storage and offloading platform" and `Oil fingerprinting and identification of polluter' were made at the meting.

The National Oil Spill Disaster Contingency Plan, prepared by the Coast Guard and approved by the committee of secretaries on 4 November 1993, delineates the roles and responsibilities of various ministries, departments, ports, oil companies and other resource agencies.

The Cost Guard has undertaken various measures which include assistance in preparation of contingency plans for ports and oil handling agencies, providing basic and advanced training to the resource personnel, and regular conduct of pollution response exercises and drills.