the goan I network
PANAJI
Captain of Ports who lords over all maritime interests in Goa’s territorial and inland waterways got a major shot in the arm on Thursday with the acquisition of an oil spill mitigating vessel equipped with a spill containing boom and a schemer besides additional equipment to make it multiple utility.
The vessel was commissioned on Thursday by Ports Minister Michael Lobo.
The approximately Rs 4.18 crore worth vessel also has a dingy which could be manouvered either with an OBM (outboard motor) or rowing oars in difficult navigational waters where the bigger vessel will be unable to access for mounting the boom and working the schemer to absorb spills. The vessel is capable of sucking up to 7,000 litres of oil and will be stationed at the Brittona workshop of the Captain of Ports.
Meanwhile, a top CoP official said the vessel will be utilized by the department for a number of other functions when there is no oil-spill and it is lying idle, lest it ends up a ‘white elephant’.
Some of the functions that the vessel will be utilized for include vessel inspections,
pumping out waste oil from vessels and barges, busting syndicates into illegal sand mining across Goa’s rivers among others, the official added.
Lobo who lauded the Captain of Ports on the commissioning of the Oil Spill Collection vessel, said collecting the waste oil from vessels before it spills is essential and environment friendly.
Oil spills are of major concern along Goa’s coast and also its many rivers as they have the potential to mess up beaches and shallow coastal waters which are the mainstay of the State’s cruicial tourism sector.
