Oil spill cleanup over,  claim Centre & State

CHENNAI: In a massive cover-up after oil spill devastated the Chennai coast, the Union Ministry of Environment, Forests and Climate Change and the Tamil Nadu Pollution Control Board (TNPCB) have claimed that the clean-up and remediation process at all the 25 sites, where pollution was witnessed earlier, had been completed and no further follow-up action was required.

This was stated in the joint inspection report prepared on the instructions from the National Green Tribunal.

The 34-page report, a copy of which is with Express, clearly shields the polluter from liability. It comes close on the heels of the Directorate General of Shipping giving a no-objection certificate for British ship BW Maple, which rammed into the polluting vessel Dawn Kancheepuram, to leave the State.

However, when Express visited Bharathiyar Nagar, where a major part of the spilled oil got trapped between the groynes, the rocks were still greased with oil. The shallow waters haven’t fully changed colour. Locals said the clean-up teams, which were unable to completely remove the oil, have pushed some of the contaminated rocks into the sea, which settled at the bottom. Also, there are boats soaked in oil tied on the shore, which shallow water fishermen still use to place their nets. Environmentalists and marine biologists claim that the remediation and restoration process will take decades.