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VASCO
Chief Minister Pramod Sawant has appealed to the people not to fear about any naphtha leakage from the grounded tanker MT Nu-Shi Nalini as all the necessary precautionary measure have been adopted.
Sawant was speaking to reporters after attending a high level joint meeting with various agencies at Mormugao Port Trust (MPT) on Tuesday afternoon.
“There is no reason to worry about leakage of naphtha from the grounded ship. We have taken all the precautionary measure required to handle such a situation,” said Sawant.
“For the last three days, the people of DG Shipping have been boarding the ship to assess the situation. Naphtha is present in the tanks, but the ship has a double hull so there is no scope of leakage. The weather has also cleared now and climate is favorable for us to remove the naphtha from the ship,” he said, adding, “We have undertaken boom bearing procedure surrounding the grounded ship from all sides. This means that there is like a fencing that is 2 feet deep and one feet above sea-level. Even if there is some spillage, it will be contained in this boundary and we will be able to immediately remove it.”
He added, “We have done a study and taken all precautionary steps to prevent leakage. We will first spray nitrogen on the naphtha cargo to ensure that there are no incidents while it is being shifted or transferred. The ship is totally grounded on rock and mud and there is no scope or question of the ship moving or drifting again.”
Govt will not be financially burdened by these operations: Sawant
VASCO : Chief Minister Pramod Sawant after attending a high-level joint meeting at MPT, on Tuesday, informed reporters that the government would not be burdened by operations to remove the naphtha from the grounded ship MT Nu-Shi Nalini. “As per the present situation, Goa government is not bearing any expenses for the operations. We have already given a letter to the MPT that any cost involved in these operations will have to be borne by them. But the owner of the ship himself has agreed at present that whatever expenses are incurred will be taken care of by him,” said Sawant. “Besides, the defence ministry is also helping us by providing us helicopters, etc. In fact all the agencies are helping us including the MPT. There are two types of naphtha available in two different tanks of the grounded ship . One is contaminated naphtha and the other is pure naphtha and the totally quantity is around 2000 MT.”
‘Offences of MPT, ship owners can be discussed later; naphtha removal vital’
VASCO: Chief Minister Pramod Sawant informed reporters that though the government had initially insisted on arresting the Captain, ship owners and MPT officials, the present situation demanded that all agencies including the ship owner come together to tackle the matter and preliminarily offload the naphtha as soon as possible.
“We had said there was negligence from MPT side, but they have clarified that they had got the ship after DG shipping approvals. Presently registering offence on people is not as important as clearing the naphtha from the grounded ship,”
said Sawant, adding, “Afterwards we will see who is at fault because presently, the ship owner is also fully cooperating with us and it is very important that the naphtha is cleared from the ship at the earliest.”
