Port Blair, 06 Dec: Indian Coast Guard coordinated a marine oil spill mock drill at sea off the coast off Port Blair as part of Regional level marine oil spill response exercise “Clean Sea” on 06 Dec 2018. The mock drill was undertaken by Indian Coast Guard in conjunction with stakeholders which included the A&N Administration, Pollution Control Committee (A&N) ANC, PMB, PBMC, DSS, IOC, DMA, tourism and fisheries departments.
Code named as “Clean Sea -2018”, the mock drill was a full scale event for evaluating the capabilities and response mechanism of all stake holders and augmenting regional level emergency preparedness with regard to risk factors associated with marine oil spill.
Two offshore patrol vessel (OPV), two fast patrol vessels (FPVs), four Interceptor Boats (IB), one Dornier fixed wing aircraft and one helicopter of Indian Coast Guard along with tugs and vessel belonging to ANC, PMB & DSS participated in various manoeuvres and procedures as part of exercise.
As part of the event, a maiden mock drill for shore clean-up was also conducted at Corbyn’s cove beach by PCC with support from Coast Guard District HQ -14 and various stake holders including PBMC, Forest & Health services departments.
The preparedness of all agencies during the drill was witnessed by Mr. Chetan Bhushan Sanghi, IAS, Chief Secretary (Andaman & Nicobar) along with Inspector General MV Pathak, Commander, Coast Guard Region (A&N), both of whom were embarked onboard ICG ship along with representatives of other stake holder agencies.
The participation and cooperation provided by all stakeholders towards the conduct of the drill, is indicative of our resolve to combat pollution for protecting the flora and fauna of these islands. The mock drill successfully validated and reinforced response mechanism for Oil Pollution incidents and enabled Indian Coast Guard to fine tune the actions required in such eventualities by improving coordination and communication with different agencies. Representatives from electronic and print media also witnessed the exercise.
A communiqué received from PRO Coast Guard. “Vayam Rakshamah – We Protect”.
