Published in Dwarka Express on 23.12.23

From one tragedy, Chennai is not able to come out, but it appears that the Goddess of Destiny is having a cruel smile on Tamil Nadu in general and Chennai in particular. Cyclone spells on the one side and human failure on the other side, TN Chief Minister shunts between Chennai and Delhi, with his ‘begging’ bowl for flood reliefs.  The placid sea water of Ennore Creek in North Chennai is now posing heavy threat to the biodiversity in Bay of Bengal besides jeopardizing the fishermen’s livelihood. The oil spill from Chennai Petroleum Corporation (CPCL), a subsidiary of Indian Oil corporation, during the heavy floods due to cyclone Michaung has proliferated to 20 Sq KMs into the sea. A thick layer of oil is covering a vast area of the ocean near the coast of Chennai. The impact of oil spill on the living organisms like fish, turtle and crabs are visible, as the dead fish float on the surface. The fishes in the sea are exposed to toxic oil which will affect their reproduction capacity. If fish production is hampered, the fishermen would not be able to make up their livelihood. Besides the residents in the affected areas are complaining of unbearable odour besides irritation in the eyes, itching and dizziness. Especially this affects the vulnerable age groups like seniors, pregnant women and children.

This is not the first time we are hearing of an oil spill at Ennore. Earlier on 28^th Jan 2017 also there was an oil spill when an empty tanker dashed against an inbound loaded oil tanker near Kancheepuram. Though the magnitude of spillage was not comparable to the present one, there definitely was damage to sea biodiversity, especially the fishes. But at that time a tall claim was made that the marine life was not much affected and the fish was eatable. But this time the magnitude is too high and visible that the authorities are finding it difficult to sort out the issue. The compensation plan for the fishing community is in air and of course some compensation will be made. Nothing can compensate the loss of marine biodiversity for this callousness of the CPCL, leave alone the economic loss suffered by the company. It is said that the Tamil Nadu Government has engaged oil sucking machines from helicopters and dispose them in designated locations like Gummidipoondi, which are authorized to dump hazardous wastes. Meanwhile experienced birders say that some birds like cormorants, spot billed pelicans, painted storks and whiskered Terns are the worst affected as the oil spill in water gets infiltrated into their body cuticles which are easily soluble in hydrophobic substance like oil. Once the affected bird again gets into the water for its prey, it will not be able to return as the birds get choked into the oil.

One of the worst oil spill tragedies happened in US in Deepwater Horizon drilling platform in Gulf of Mexico, which killed 11 people in 2010. It is supposed to be the worst oil spill in history with the spillage of about 780000 cubic meter oil. The clean up crew worked in 89 Sq KMs. They used several techniques like floating boom barriers to push it away from beaches and mangroves. In situ burning, skimmers and chemical dispersants to break up the oil slicks. However it is the global experience that oil spills cannot be removed 100%. The best way is to prevent such spillage than struggling to remove it from sea.