The Indian Coast Guard has filed an initial multi-crore claim for its role in mopping up thousands of tonnes of oil spilt off Groat Nicobar Island in January.
AFTER the action comes the bill. The
Indian Coast Guard (ICG) has filed an
initial claim of Rs 13 crore for its role
in cleaning up about 40,000 tonnes of
oil spilt in the Andaman Sea on
January 21. The spill occurred when
the Danish oil tanker, Maersk
Navigator, collided with an empty
Japanese tanker, 122 kin southeast of
Great Nicobar Island.
The Union ministry of environment and forests (MEF) has still to
file its claim for environmental damage, as also the National Institute of
Oceanography (NIO), for deploying
its research vessel Sagar Konya, and
the Andaman aild Nicobar administration, for fishing losses and coastal
damages. Their claims will be filed
only'after detailed assessments from
NIO are received in May.
MEF officials estimate initial
claims could be as much as Rs 20
crore for the clean-up operation and
for deploying Sagar Konya to conduct a preliminary environmental
impact study. The vessel will make
another trip to the islands in April
to make a final damage assessment.
MEF officials are reluctant to
estimate how much the final
claim would amount to, as "this
may bias the insurance company
regarding the payment of compensation".
ICG used two ships and two air-craft to spray chemical dispersants
over a week to break up the oil spill.
ICG's claim only-covers the cost of
tackling the spill and not its environmental implications. Hence, ICG's
Rs 13-crore claim should be considered c1rily as the first tranche of compensailon claims, cautions a senior
ICG offcial.
Under maritime law, Indian agencies bove upto three years to file
compensation,claims with Maersk Navigator's owners, A P Moller
Singap re (Pte) Ltd. As India is a signapore to the International Maritime
Pollution Convention, it is eligible
for payment from the tanker's insurer
of up a maximum of Rs 53.73 crore.
Theoretically, the legal maximum
available in oil spill cases is
Rs 246.27 crore, but Joe Nichols,
technical manager for International
Tanker Owners Pollution Federation
- a London-based organisation that
advises tanker owners, insurers and
the International Oil Pollution Fund
- says, "I don't think more than the
shipowner's limit will be claimed.
There was virtually no clean-up
required." (See Down To Earth,
February 28, 1993)
While Nichols' statement reflects
an understandable bias in the
matter of claim payments, Indian
authorities are chary about giving
out details of the compensation
amounts they intend to seek. The
outcome of India's damage claims is
extremely important for as much as
half of the oil shipped from the
Middle East goes to Asian and
Australasian ports past the Indian
coastline. And because of the Asian
economic boom, this quantity will
grow rapidly.
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