Oil spill along Gujarat-Maharashtra sea? Environmentalist notices coastline slowly getting polluted by tar balls

By A Representative
MSH Sheikh, who heads the environmental organization, Brackish Water Research Centre (BWRC), operating from Olpad, Surat district, has found that the coastline along the Valsad district “is being hit by oil spill”, with 50 km sea shore “slowly getting the tar balls over the last several days.”
In a representation to the Gujarat Coastal Zone Management Authority (GCZMA), Sheikh has sought its urgent intervention as the “deposition of tar balls are increasing, which shows oil spill in mid sea”, pointing out that it is all set to cause “pollution in coast as well as in the sea.”
In his representation -- a copy of which has been sent to the Ministry of Environment, Forests and Climate Change, and the Ministry of Petroleum and Natural Gas, Government of India – Sheikh says, “All oil spill incidents in the past have taken place during monsoon”, giving the instance of oil spills in 2009, 2010, 2011 and 2013, regretting, nothing has been done to stop the disaster.
“In the past the 200-km-long Gujarat-Maharashtra coastline was affected, yet source of pollution was not identified. Even coastguards had also termed it mysterious oil spill”, ”, he said, adding, “We fear this time the oil spill is the result of either leakage from the Oil and Natural Gas Corporation (ONGC) pipeline in Bombay High or its offshore unit, or has been caused by accidental release from a ship or a tanker.”
Seeking immediate action from concerned Central and state departments “to protect the coastal marine life”, as this happens to be the breeding season, the representation says, “Experts from the National Institute of Oceanography (NIO) should be called for fingerprinting the spilled oil, in which the organization has some expertise. Past oil spills were investigated by NIO.”

A tar ball is a blob of petroleum which has been weathered after floating in the ocean. Tarballs are an aquatic pollutant in most environments

A tar ball is a blob of petroleum which has been weathered after floating in the ocean. Tarballs are an aquatic pollutant in most environments, although they can occur naturally and as such are not always associated with oil spills.

Tarball concentration and features have been used to assess the extent of oil spills and their composition can also be used to identify their sources of origin. They are slowly decomposed by microorganisms such as chromobacterium violaceum, cladosporium resinae, bacillus submarinus, micrococcus varians, Pseudomonas aeruginosa, Candida marina, and saccharomyces estuari.
A major reason why oil spill takes place along Gujarat-Maharashtra coast, say Gujarat government officials, is heavy traffic of ships along the coastline. More than 5,000 ships loaded with various material, including crude oil, arrive at various ports in Gujarat every year, with ports at Dahej and Hazira, situated next to the the industrial clusters, being the worst affected
In 2009, a blogger, Romin Irani, had noticed reported “a mysterious oil spill” ravaging “around 100km of the coastline”, destroying the coastline “beyond recognition in several parts”. While the Gujarat government “took a good 10 days” to confirm the oil spill, he said, he found the beach at Nargol so “ravaged completely” that it had become “impossible to walk without stepping your feet in crude oil.”

Comments

Griffin Pedigo said…

Oil Spill Eater II was used to clean the tar balls in Alaska after the Exxon Valdez spill and also on the gulf shores after the BP spill. We can clean the shores of Malaysia. Email me at griffin.pedigo@osei.us

July 11, 2017

Unknown said…

We are working in Oil bioremediation without using any harmfull agent since 15 years in ONGC, KOC, OIL, IOCL, etc . we can treat this site with Indian technology very effectivly and in low cost.
contact me Manish Dwivedi, OTBL, otbl.amd@gmail.com, or 9925005217

July 18, 2017

India's chemical industry: The missing piece of Atmanirbhar Bharat

By N.S. Venkataraman* Rarely a day passes without the Prime Minister or a cabinet minister speaking about the importance of Atmanirbhar Bharat . The Start-up India scheme is a pillar in promoting this vision, and considerable enthusiasm has been reported in promoting start-up projects across the country. While these developments are positive, Atmanirbhar Bharat does not seem to have made significant progress within the Indian chemical industry . This is a matter of high concern that needs urgent and dispassionate analysis.

Remembering a remarkable rebel: Personal recollections of Comrade Himmat Shah

By Rajiv Shah I first came in contact with Himmat Shah in the second half of the 1970s during one of my routine visits to Ahmedabad , my maternal hometown. I do not recall the exact year, but at that time I was working in Delhi with the CPI -owned People’s Publishing House (PPH) as its assistant editor, editing books and writing occasional articles for small periodicals. Himmatbhai — as I would call him — worked at the People’s Book House (PBH), the CPI’s bookshop on Relief Road in Ahmedabad.

Urgent need to study cause of large number of natural deaths in Gulf countries

By Venkatesh Nayak* According to data tabled in Parliament in April 2018, there are 87.76 lakh (8.77 million) Indians in six Gulf countries, namely Bahrain, Kuwait, Oman, Qatar, Saudi Arabia and the United Arab Emirates (UAE). While replying to an Unstarred Question (#6091) raised in the Lok Sabha, the Union Minister of State for External Affairs said, during the first half of this financial year alone (between April-September 2018), blue-collared Indian workers in these countries had remitted USD 33.47 Billion back home. Not much is known about the human cost of such earnings which swell up the country’s forex reserves quietly. My recent RTI intervention and research of proceedings in Parliament has revealed that between 2012 and mid-2018 more than 24,570 Indian Workers died in these Gulf countries. This works out to an average of more than 10 deaths per day. For every US$ 1 Billion they remitted to India during the same period there were at least 117 deaths of Indian Workers in Gulf ...

A comrade in culture and controversy: Yao Wenyuan’s revolutionary legacy

By Harsh Thakor* This year marks two important anniversaries in Chinese revolutionary history—the 20th death anniversary of Yao Wenyuan, and the 50th anniversary of his seminal essay "On the Social Basis of the Lin Biao Anti-Party Clique". These milestones invite reflection on the man whose pen ignited the first sparks of the Great Proletarian Cultural Revolution and whose sharp ideological interventions left an indelible imprint on the political and cultural landscape of socialist China.

Swami Vivekananda's views on caste and sexuality were 'painfully' regressive

By Bhaskar Sur* Swami Vivekananda now belongs more to the modern Hindu mythology than reality. It makes a daunting job to discover the real human being who knew unemployment, humiliation of losing a teaching job for 'incompetence', longed in vain for the bliss of a happy conjugal life only to suffer the consequent frustration.

History, culture and literature of Fatehpur, UP, from where Maulana Hasrat Mohani hailed

By Vidya Bhushan Rawat* Maulana Hasrat Mohani was a member of the Constituent Assembly and an extremely important leader of our freedom movement. Born in Unnao district of Uttar Pradesh, Hasrat Mohani's relationship with nearby district of Fatehpur is interesting and not explored much by biographers and historians. Dr Mohammad Ismail Azad Fatehpuri has written a book on Maulana Hasrat Mohani and Fatehpur. The book is in Urdu. He has just come out with another important book, 'Hindi kee Pratham Rachna: Chandayan' authored by Mulla Daud Dalmai.' During my recent visit to Fatehpur town, I had an opportunity to meet Dr Mohammad Ismail Azad Fatehpuri and recorded a conversation with him on issues of history, culture and literature of Fatehpur. Sharing this conversation here with you. Kindly click this link. --- *Human rights defender. Facebook https://www.facebook.com/vbrawat , X @freetohumanity, Skype @vbrawat

Muslim women’s rights advocates demand criminalisation of polygamy: Petition launched

By A Representative An online petition seeking a legal ban on polygamy has been floated by Javed Anand, co-editor of Sabrang and National Convener of Indian Muslims for Secular Democracy (IMSD), inviting endorsements from citizens, organisations and activists. The petition, titled “Indian Muslims & Secular Progressive Citizens Demand a Legal Ban on Polygamy,” urges the Central and State governments, Parliament and political parties to abolish polygamy through statutory reform, backed by extensive data from the 2025 national study conducted by the Bharatiya Muslim Mahila Andolan (BMMA).

As 2024 draws nearer, threatening signs appear of more destructive wars

By Bharat Dogra The four years from 2020 to 2023 have been very difficult and high risk years for humanity. In the first two years there was a pandemic and such severe disruption of social and economic life that countless people have not yet recovered from its many-sided adverse impacts. In the next two years there were outbreaks of two very high-risk wars which have worldwide implications including escalation into much wider conflicts. In addition there were highly threatening signs of increasing possibility of other very destructive wars. As the year 2023 appears to be headed for ending on a very grim note, there are apprehensions about what the next year 2024 may bring, and there are several kinds of fears. However to come back to the year 2020 first, the pandemic harmed and threatened a very large number of people. No less harmful was the fear epidemic, the epidemic of increasing mental stress and the cruel disruption of the life and livelihoods particularly among the weaker s...

Farewell to Robin Smith, England’s Lionhearted Warrior Against Pace

By Harsh Thakor* Robin Smith, who has died at the age of 62, was among the most adept and convincing players of fast bowling during an era when English cricket was in decline and pace bowling was at its most lethal. Unwavering against the tormenting West Indies pace attack or the relentless Australians, Smith epitomised courage and stroke-making prowess. His trademark shot, an immensely powerful square cut, made him a scourge of opponents. Wearing a blue England helmet without a visor or grille, he relished pulling, hooking and cutting the quicks.

Search This Blog