Rescue officials clean after an oil spill in the Bay of Bengal off the Ennore Creek area in the aftermath of Cyclone Michaung, in Chennai, Friday, Dec. 15, 2023.
Credit: PTI Photo
Chennai: Over 600 people with sophisticated equipment and 110 boats have been deployed to contain the oil spill in the environmentally-sensitive Ennore Creek area due to a leak from the Chennai Petroleum Corporation Limited (CPCL) refinery, with about 15 tonnes of oil being collected since December 12.
Besides deploying five gully sucker machines, the Tamil Nadu government has also installed containment booms in an area of about 1,100 metres to prevent the oil from entering the ocean.
To complete the process by December 19, the government has now categorised the impacted area into four stretches for the purpose of intensive review and mitigation.
Even as the efforts to remove the oil is in full swing, fishermen said the oil spill in the Kosasthalaiyar River has spread till Pulicat, another ecologically-sensitive zone which extends to neighbouring Andhra Pradesh.
About 10,000 fishermen in Ennore have not ventured into the sea for fishing for the past two weeks due to Cyclone Michaung and subsequent floods, which also brought a new problem to deal in with the oil spill. Boats have been damaged and fishermen who venture into the sea have also returned with catch that smells of oil, which many people aren’t willing to buy.
The Southern Bench of the National Green Tribunal (NGT), which took suo motu cognizance of the issue, has asked the Tamil Nadu Pollution Control Board and CPCL to clear the oil spill by December 19.
Officials said trained people from two Oil Spillage Response Service companies have been deployed to strengthen the oil mitigation work and added that a total of 110 boats along with a workforce of 615 individuals were on site involved in the oil mitigation work.
“So far about 276 Barrels containing 48.6 tonnes of oil waste were collected containing approximately 15 tonnes of oil. Cleaning work in nearby villages of Ennore Kuppam, Nettu Kuppam and Thalan Kuppam is going on with full intensity with the help of JCBs and dipper trucks. The oil laden debris was cleaned out from the mitigated villages,” the government said.
The government has deployed five gully suckers, 11 JCBs, 13 tippers, 5 proclains, one hydra crane, four skimmers, 2 tractor trailers and four pick-up trucks in the process besides asking the Indian Institute of Technology-Madras (IIT-M) to conduct a study estimate the quantity of oil available in the water in Ennore and other localities.
The oil allegedly released by CPCL into flood water reached the Kosasthalaiyar River via the Buckingham canal.