The owners of MSC Chitra have agreed to pay Rs. 3 crore as advance compensation to the Maharashtra Pollution Control Board (MPCB) for damage control operations.
“They [owners of MSC Chitra] gave us Rs. 1crore on Monday. We will receive the rest of the money within a week,” Valsa Nair Singh, Principal Secretary for the Maharashtra Environment Department and chairperson of the Pollution Control Board, told The Hindu .
She said international bodies such as the Oil Spill Response Limited and The International Tanker Owners Pollution Federation Limited (ITOPF) have started the clean-up process at the Elephanta Island. “Six international experts from the Oil Spill Response Limited have come down from Singapore.”
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The agency has also got the specialised machinery required for the operations.
The operations started on Saturday in the 400 meters area of the northern part of the Elephanta Island. “It will take 10 to 14 days to finish the work in that patch,” Kelly Reynolds, Technical Advisor with the ITOPF, told The Hindu .
The agency was developing a clean-up plan for the southern part of the island. “Right now, we have employed around 50 local labourers for the process,” Ms. Singh said.
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The MPCB planned to hand over the clean-up operations at the Nhava Island to these organisations. The Elephanta Island is surrounded by rocky patches and mangroves.
The organisations are using hot water pressure washing technology for cleaning up the rocky areas.