US firm to pump oil from ship on Orissa coast
A Florida-based company has been assigned the job of pumping out the oil stored in a Mongolian cargo ship that had sunk near Paradip coast in Orissa’s Jagatsinghpur district nearly a month ago, threatening to create problems during the annual turtle mating and nesting season.
The annual mating and mass nesting of endangered Olive Ridley sea turtles is scheduled to begin any time during this month.
According to K Raghuramaiaha, the chairman of the Paradip Port Trust(PPT) which selected the US company Resolve Marine Groups through an international tender, the entire operation will be completed within the next 45 days at a coast of Rs 17.50 crore. The company will start work within ten days.
The PPT authorities had already been at the receiving end from turtle experts and environmentalist as well as government agencies like the Orissa Pollution Control Board and the Union Ministry of Environment and Forests for the delay in pumping out over 975 tonnes of oil stored in the sunken vessel’s tank. The Orissa government had also issued a show cause notice to the PPT on the issue.
