In a display of dexterity on Wednesday morning, the Coast Guard exhibited its preparedness and swiftness in tackling an environmental disaster caused by marine oil spill off the city’s harbour. The mock exercise was part of the seventh edition of the National Level Pollution Response Exercise (NATPOLREX-VII). “A real-time demonstration of a spill scenario was conducted on January 9. It was done on the premise that there was a major oil spill after a tanker collision, following which there was mobilisation of pollution response resources by various stakeholders to combat it,” said Deputy Commandant Avinandan Mitra, public relations officer, Coast Guard. He added that the highlight of the exercise included participation of their pollution control vessel (PCV) ICGS Samudra Pavak and integration of other stakeholders. As per Coast Guard officials, a total of 11 of their ships were used for the exercise. The Mumbai Port Trust (MbPT), Jawaharlal Nehru Port Trust (JNPT), Oil and Natural gas Corporation (ONGC) and a tanker from Shipping Corporation of India (SCI) along with ICG Dornier maritime reconnaissance aircraft and Chetak helicopter also participated in the mega exercise. The preparedness of all agencies was reviewed by Additional Director General K Natarajan, Coast Guard Commander of Western Seaboard. While the PCV Samudra Pavak displayed how it would sweep the oil with its side-sweeping arms and collect the emulsion onboard, a river boom in U-configuration was held by two ONGC ships to prevent oil from spreading to critical areas. “The exercises saw how two Coast Guard interceptor boats and fast patrol vessels with special oil spill dispersant (OSD) nozzles and spray system can be deployed to break molecules of oil and restrict pollution. “This was followed by an aerial OSD spray by Chetak helicopters as well as low-altitude flying ICG Dornier,” said Mitra. Two dumb barges filled with oil-water emulsion would then be towed by boats, completing the entire exercise of spill containment, recovery and disposal, along with the search and rescue mission. GLOBAL OBSERVERS

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