First Phase Of Chennai Oil Spill Cleanup To Be Over In 4-5 Days: Minister

Tamil Nadu Minister Udhayanidhi Stalin has said that the first phase of cleanup of the recent oil spill in Chennai will be over soon. After he surveyed the site on Friday, the minister said the cleanup will be a long process but the first stage will be over in 4-5 days.

The minister also assured that a framework will be developed to deal with similar incidents in the future.

The oil spill, which has crossed at least 20 sqkm into the sea, occurred shortly after Chennai began recovering from the devastating Cyclone Michaung and is now threatening to destroy the eco-sensitive Ennore creek outside Chennai.

The oil spill mitigation work gained momentum on Friday, a day after the National Green Tribunal (NGT) rebuked the Chennai Petroleum Corporation Ltd (CPCL) over the slow pace of the cleanup. The oil company, from who's refinery the oil spill originated, had assured that 95% of the oil spill will be removed by the end of this week.

"Crucial time has been lost. The spill has spread. We are doing our best," a expert told NDTV. While experts say it's a long, laborious process, the key focus is to save the Ennore Creek.

The plan is to gradually remove a significant amount of oil using skimmers, gulley suckers besides manual collection of the spill by nearly 300 fishermen on 100 boats and then use thousands of pads to further absorb the leftover floating oil films.

The company has deployed four layer boomers to contain the spread along with consulting a private oil spill mitigation company from Mumbai. At least two skimmers operating on boats have been deployed in the creek to pump waters into containers, from the worst-affected pockets.

A statement from the Tamil Nadu Government said, "About 276 barrels containing 48.6 tonnes of oil waste was collected containing approximately 15 tonnes of oil".

IIT Madras is investigating the impact to assess the quantum of the oil spill as CPCL has not shared any data on this yet. The Chennai Petroleum Corporation Ltd has assured that medical checkups are underway for communities living around the creek.

However, the fishermen and locals are worried about the long-term impact of the spill on their livelihood and the creek's ecosystem. "This fertile ground for fish, prawns and crabs has been destroyed. None of us can earn out living here now," said Suresh, President of Ennore Fisherman Association.