Polluters must and will pay, says Jairam
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COMMENTS 
The Centre has said polluters will have to pay for environment and maritime losses caused by the collision of two merchant vessels off the Mumbai coast, on August 7, and has assured fishermen who could not fish due to the oil spill that they will be given compensation
Minister of State for Environment and Forests Jairam Ramesh has categorically said that “polluters must pay and polluters will pay”. He was responding to a question in the Rajya Sabha on the oil spill caused by the collision of two Panamanian vessels, MSC Chitra and MV Khalijia-III in the Arabian Sea off the coast of Mumbai.
When asked if the Indian government would seek compensation under an international convention, Ramesh said that since India was not a signatory to the Bunkers Convention, such recourse would not be possible. The country had to be a member of the Bunkers Convention to claim damages, as the ships that collided were dry vessels not tankers, he said.
When MSC Chitra collided with MV Khalijia-III, it had a cargo of 1,219 containers. The cargo contained 2,662 tonnes of fuel, 283 tonnes of diesel and 88,040 litres of lubricant oil. Thirty-one containers held chemical substances. The office of the Director General (Shipping) has said MSC Chitra is still tilted at 30 degrees and that some of the containers on deck had fallen into the ship’s hold while others had fallen into the sea.
Ramesh said the oil spill has had a substantial impact on fish populations in and around the area. The Maharashtra environment authorities and the coast guard have drawn up an action plan for a clean-up, and joint teams were formed for operations wherever oil was observed on the coast, he added.
His ministry is supporting efforts by the Maharashtra Pollution Control Board, which has asked the Central Marine Fisheries Institute to study the impact of the oil spill on fish, the National Environmental Engineering Research Agency, Nagpur, and the National Institute of Oceanography, Goa, to carry out an environmental impact assessment.
The initial report on the environmental impact will be available in four weeks and the full report in three months. This report will form the basis for filing a compensation claim for environmental damage, a long-drawn-out legal procedure. Another report on the impact on fishermen will be available in two weeks, Ramesh said, adding that the impression of a ban on fishing on account of the oil spill was incorrect as it was already in place until August 15 on account of the monsoon.
Meanwhile, there have been reports that the owners of MSC Chitra have been asked to pay full compensation for the August 7 collision. Port authorities have sent notices to the merchant vessel’s owners, the Mediterranean Shipping Company, asking them to pay full compensation as they have been identified as the “polluters”. The compensation will run into crores of rupees. It was Chitra’s tanks that caused the oil spill and caused both Mumbai Port and Jawaharlal Nehru Port Trust (JNPT) to shut down operations.
Source: The Hindu, August 18, 2010
The Hindustan Times, August 18, 2010
http://www.ndtv.com, August 2010