Oil spill raises pollution concerns

The leakage of oil from an Indian ship which anchored at the Gopalpur port on Monday has cast fears of pollution in several parts of Ganjam coast.

This apart, the environmental activists have apprehended that the oil spill will pose a threat to the Olive Ridley turtles.

Over two lakh Olive Ridley turtles had laid eggs near the river Rushikulya mouth, about 20 km from the port and the eggs are expected to be hatched in the first week of May.

“I have already written to the state’s chief wildlife warden in this regard. I have also written to the national disaster management authority as well as state disaster management organization to evacuate the leaked oil from the sea as soon as possible before the hard liquid enters into the Chilika lake”, said noted wildlife activist Biswajit Mohanty.

Mohanty had rushed to the spot to make an on-the-spot study on the impact of the oil leakage on the sea animals. MV Malabika, the vessel of Essar Company was anchored at the port for over a week to unload the coal of Indonesia, when it met with the accident, said director of Gopalpur port Manmohan Maharana.

The fuel oil was leaked when a crack developed in the vessel while it collided with the berth of the port.

“The oil from the cracked tanker was immediately shifted to another tanker and a meagre quantity of oil was leaked from the ship. The surveyors of the port as well as the company owning the ship have been engaged to quantify the leakage of the oil from the sea”, Moharana added. Gopalpur, a seasonal port is being developed by the Gopalpur Port Limited into an all-weather port. Local fishermen alleged they could not fish on Tuesday due to the oil pollution in the sea.

“The turtles are likely to face the problems to take feed from the sea, when the breeding of the fish will affect due to the problem. The spilled oil is spreading fast and it was spreading about 20-30 km towards the south-west direction of the port at the river Rushikulya river mouth”, said Rabi Choudhury, an official of the Olive Ridley turtle protection committee, Ganjam.