Assessing Chennai oil spill disaster

In the early hours of January 28, as the sun was ascending the horizon on the east, a "minor collision" was reported off Kamarajar Port in Ennore near Chennai. The boats involved were an oil tanker and an LPG tanker. This in itself should have been enough to set off alarms, but the port was quick on insisting that there was no environmental or oil damage due to the accident. The oil spill that has ensued may now become the largest ever in the southern peninsula.

By the next day, fisher folk started noticing patches of dark viscous oily sludge. Minister of State for Road Transport & Highways, Shipping Pon Radhakrishnan arrived on the spot of the collision and once again allayed fears by repeating the port stance that the accident was a minor one and that everything was under control. By the next day, oily patches started getting noticed, and the cleanup process was initiated. An early estimate put out by the port was that only about 1 tonne of toxic oil was spilt in the accident. But as fishermen, volunteers and coast guard scampered to clean up the mess manually armed only with mops, buckets and tanks, and it was evident that the spill was much bigger. By Thursday, February 2, the Indian National Centre for Ocean Information Services (INCOIS) estimated that over 40 tonnes of oil sludge and 27 tonnes of oil-water mixture had been removed. And the spill has continued to spread and has reached Chennai's famed Marina beach. Estimates have now been revised further upwards, closer to 100 tonnes. If you thought 1 tonne of toxic oil spillage was bad, the latest news is that reality could be a hundred times worse.It has taken a whole frantic week for authorities and the courts to wake up and start issuing orders for inquiries and arrests. Union Transport Minister Nitin Gadkari was finally available yesterday to issue the standard threat of probing the truth and nailing the guilty within a month.

There are at least two examples of criminal neglect that have culminated in the disaster unfolding on Tamil Nadu's coast. The first, immediate

and the most obvious is how the accident came to be. After the initial ambiguity put forth by the port, it has become clear that the "minor" collision happened as the ships tried to use the port channel at the same time. According to the rules, only one ship can exit or enter the port at any given time. However, on Jan 28, the pilot of LPG tanker BW Maple disembarked to the port channel before the scheduled time allegedly on orders from the ship's master. In the absence of a guiding pilot, the tanker rammed into petroleum carrier Dawn Kanchipuram and snapped the fuel pipeline of the cargo ship. On Friday, a case was registered under sections 280 (rash navigation of vessel), 285 (negligent conduct with respect to fire or combustible matter), 336 (act endangering life or personal safety of others), 427 (mischief causing damage to the amount of fifty rupees), 431 (mischief by injury to public road, bridge, river or channel) of the India Penal Code.

While crews of the ships are being interrogated and arrest orders have been issued against the captains, if the Union Minister is serious about getting to the bottom of the disaster that has unfolded will take a lot more than just rounding up the easy scapegoats. The fact that what was construed to be a minor incident has overwhelmed the state to such an extent that it is on its way to becoming a major environmental crisis is worrisome, to say the least. It points to the complete lack of effectiveness of the nation's contingency plan. India has a coastline more than 7,500 km. The National Oil Spill- Disaster Contingency Plan (NOS-DCP) was sanctioned in 1993, drafted in 1995 and adopted in 1996. In the two decades since then, the plan has routinely been updated and revised to reflect the latest in international safety and regulatory standards. Evidently, the only thing it indicates is a complete failure in action.

The requirement of a state contingency plan from states has been demanded by the Indian coastguard now for over 20 years now. The same was reiterated as recently as in August 2016 at the 21st annual meeting of the NOS-DCP and during the most recent meetings of the State Coastal Zone Management Authority. Despite this, Tamil Nadu has till date not furnished such a plan. For the past three years, the Tamil Nadu Maritime Board has been working on a draft for the plan. It remains to be seen what the actual extent of damage to the ecology and economy will be but what is clear from the disarray that followed the spill is that far from a contingency plan, even necessary coordination between the maritime board, the state disaster response team and the port authorities is absent. This despite the fact that an environmental assessment from the Kamarajar Port on modifications for the iron ore terminal clearly states an increased risk of oil spills. At a time when India is endeavouring to increase its port capacity and connectivity through the Sagar Mala Yojana, especially for freight goods, the oil spill that is choking Chennai seemingly answers the question of whether we are prepared to handle the responsibility that comes with large-scale coastal development and operations.