In an effort to hone preparedness to deal with oil spill disaster in coastal areas, the Indian Coast Guard (ICG) on Wednesday conducted the 24th National Oil Spill Disaster Contingency Plan (NOS-DCP) and Preparedness Meeting in Chennai.
Presently, as the third largest importer of crude, India receives a large volume of oil through ships. Similarly, it stands sixth in the world as major chemical importer country.
Both oil and chemicals if spilled pose inherent risks to the maritime zones of India and the connected coastlines housing large coastal population, marine ecosystem, industries and various installations along with supporting tourism industry. Therefore, preventive measures by the Central Coordinating Agency, Ports, Ship Owners, Oil Handling Facilities, Coastal States and other concerned stakeholders are required to be taken to prepare for any likely marine
spill.
In this backdrop, ICG Director GeneralV S Pathania, who is the Chairman of NOS-DCP, chaired the meeting. About 100 delegates, including representatives of various Ministries, Central and State Government departments and agencies, State Pollution Control Board, Ports and Oil Handling Companies participated.