Work to Clear Oil Spill Quickened After Chief Secretary Visits Site

CHENNAI: Several gully sucker machines and Oil Control Brooms were deployed at the Ennore Creek on Tuesday to contain the oil spillage, reportedly caused by the public sector Chennai Petroleum Corporation Limited, and to expedite the mitigation work on clearing the sludge after State Chief Secretary Shiv Das Meena personally visited the site on Monday to reviewed the extent of the spillage. Meena also a chaired a high level committee meeting of the State Oil Spill Crisis Management Group to discuss the means to speed up the process, besides taking immediate steps to alleviate the sufferings of stakeholders like requisitioning dermatologists to treat people affected by the spillage that had also entered residential localities due to the floods. During the field visit by the Chief Secretary and other officials it was found that the oil, leaked from the premises of the CPCL, had already impacted the lives of people in the nearby fishing villages, besides revealing significant oil deposits in the Ennore Creek Area. Though CPCL had initially denied that the oil leak was from its Manali plant when reports first came out about the spillage spreading to various village and contaminating the water, a team, headed by the member secretary of Tamil Nadu Pollution Control Board and comprising experts from Anna University, NEERI, Central Pollution Control Board and Coast Guard concluded that the spillage was from CPCL.