New Delhi, April 10 A variety of Coast Guard ships and aircraft participated in a two-day oil spill control exercise that concluded Tuesday in the Gulf of Kutch (GOK) off Gujarat.All the resource agencies operating in the GOK region including Reliance Industries Limited, Indian Oil Corporation, Essar Oil Limited, Mundra Adani Port and Bedi Port participated in 'Sagar Manthan-IV' that was held in the mid-seas of the gulf.The Coast Guard fielded advanced offshore patrol vessel Samar, fast patrol vessel Meera Behn, inshore patrol vessel Tara Bai, an interceptor boat C-131, an air cushion vessel Hovercraft-185, one Chetak light helicopter and one Dornier, apart from various other advanced pollution response equipment and personnel to conduct the exercise, a defence ministry release said.Various situations were first discussed threadbare in a tabletop exercise conducted at the Essar Oil Club in Jamnagar Monday to indicate the consequences of oil spill threat and gauge the response capabilities of the resource agencies.These were simulated and practised in mock drills held off the Sikka Port Tuesday to assess the individual capabilities under the supervision of senior Coast Guard officials, including Inspector General G.A. Rajashekhar and Deputy Inspector General G.P. Raj.Similar exercises were held thrice earlier in the Gulf of Cambay and the Gulf of Kutch where the resource agencies responded with their contingency plans to synergise and validate their plans.The Gulf of Kutch, which has a tide variation of nearly six metres and a prevailing tide current of 3-3.5 knots, is more vulnerable to all oil handling agencies and ports in the region.As a hub of oil handling agencies, the gulf is poised to cater for increased crude transactions of 195 MMT by 2012 from the present capacity of about 78 MMT.'There will, therefore, be a quantum increase in very large crude carrier (VLCC) and ultra large crude carrier (ULCC) traffic in the GOK region alone,' the release said.'Any possible incidence of an oil tanker collision in the GOK is bound to result in a major catastrophe affecting the varied flora and fauna and the marine ecological system in the region,' it added.
(c) Indo-Asian News Service
