Ahmedabad, April 12: The coastline between Jamnagar and Salaya off the Gulf of Kachchh (GOK) is a favoured location for industrial development.

Many mega industries have been set up in the region.

The GOK region is also home to the first Marine National Park and Marine Sanctuary encompassing a unique Marine eco-system in an archipelago comprising 42 islands, abundantly endowed with rich and varied flora and fauna including Mangrove forests in a total area of 931.33 Sq Kms.

Now picture this catastrophic marine tragedy.

An accidental collision of a crude oil carrier and a barge results in a large-scale oil spillage in the GOK region.

The devastating consequences leave little to imagination.

Apart from sea pollution, destruction of the serene and tranquil marine eco-system in the region, the collision will sound the death knell for most of the aquatic life and lead to the degradation of the already fragile ecosystem .

To thwart and pre-empt such an eventuality, the Indian Coast Guard (ICG), in pursuance of its statutory duties and functions under the Coast Guard Act, has formulated a 'National Oil Spill Disaster Contingency Plan' (NOS-DCP) for meeting any 'oil spill situation' that may occur within Exclusive Economic Zone (EEZ).

Under the NOS-DCP, the ICG acts as the principal nodal agency for coordinating pollution control measures in Indian EEZ and is responsible for Tier-II (oil spill of the volume 700-10,000 Tonnes) response.

The ICG, under the stewardship of IG A Rajashekhar, Commander, Coast Guard Region (West), conducted a two-day National Level Oil Spill Exercise, code named "Sagar Manthan-IV" in the GOK region on April 9-10.All resource agencies operating in the GOK region including Reliance Industries Limited (RIL), Indian Oil Corporation (IOC), Essar Oil Limited (EOL), Mundra Adani Port and Bedi Port (GMB Group of Ports) participated in the integrated exercise held in the mid-seas of the GOK.

The ICG placed together an Advanced Offshore Patrol Vessel (AOPV), ICGS Samar, a Fast Patrol Vessel (FPV), ICGS Meera Behn, an Inshore Patrol Vessel (IPV), ICGS Tara Bai, an Interceptor Boat (IB), C-131, an Air Cushion Vessel (ACV), Hovercraft-185, one Chetak light helicopter and one Dornier apart from various other advanced pollution response equipment and personnel to conduct the exercise.

Various situations were first discussed threadbare in a 'Table Top' exercise conducted at the Essar Oil Club, Jamnagar on Monday to apprise the consequences of oil threat and response capabilities to the Resource Agencies. These were simulated and practiced in the mock drills that were held off the Sikka Port today to assess the individual capabilities, which was overseen by senior ICG officials including IG GA Rajashekhar and Deputy IG GP Raj, Commander, District HQ, Porbandar.

Similar exercises were also held thrice earlier in the Gulf of Khambhat (Cambay) and GOK where the Resource Agencies responded with their contingency plans to synergise and validate their plans in consonance with the National Contingency Plan.

The last such exercise, 'Sagar Manthan-III' was held in Gulf of Cambay on March 28-29, 2005.It is pertinent to mention that the GOK apart from the Marine National Park and Marine National Sanctuary has a tide variation of nearly six metres, and together with the prevailing tide current of 3-3.5 knots makes GOK more vulnerable to all oil handling agencies and ports in the region.

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