Pollution response teams set up by ICG deal with oil spill along coastline, says Sonowal

Pollution response teams have been set up by the lndian Coast Guard (lCG) to deal with any potential marine oil spill incident along the entire coastline of lndia, Union Minister Sarbananda Sonowal said on Friday.

New Delhi: Pollution response teams have been set up by the lndian Coast Guard (lCG) to deal with any potential marine oil spill incident along the entire coastline of lndia, Union Minister Sarbananda Sonowal said on Friday. Sonowal also said in Lok Sabha that offshore patrol vessels, fast patrol vessels and interceptor boats are always available for recovery of oil on the sea surface during any oil spill incident along the entire coastline.

"Pollution response teams have been established by the lndian Coast Guard at Mumbai, Chennai, Port Blair and Vadinar (Gujarat) to deal with any potential marine oil spill incident along the entire coastline of lndia," he said during Question Hour.

The minister for ports, shipping and waterways said the response teams hold pollution response equipment such as different types of booms, skimmers, barges, dracones etc., to respond to any pollution response incident in their area of responsibility and also for subsequent recovery of spilled oil.

They also impart pollution response training to personnel of lCG, ports of oil handling agencies and coastal states and union territories he said. Sonowal said the ICG has commissioned three dedicated pollution response vessels to deal with any potential marine oil spill incident along the entire coastline. These vessels are equipped with recovery equipment like booms, skimmers etc, he said.

PTI