Jamnagar: The Indian Coast Guard conducted the 25th National Oil Spill Disaster Contingency Plan (NOSDCP) and preparedness meeting at Vadinar, Gujarat on 23 November 2023. Director General Rakesh Pal, PTM, TM, Director General Indian Coast Guard, Chairman NOSDCP, chaired the meeting. More than 80 delegates from various Ministries, Central & State Government, Ports and Oil Handling Companies participated in the meeting.

The national capabilities with the common aim to ensure collective preparedness to respond to any oil spill contingency in Indian waters was reviewed during the meeting.

Presently, as the third largest importer of crude, India receives large volume of oil through ships. Similarly, India stands sixth in the world as major chemical importer country. Both oil and chemicals if spilled, pose inherent risks to the Maritime Zones of India and the connected coastlines housing large coastal population, marine eco-system, industries and various installations along with the supporting tourism industry. Preventive measures, by the Central Coordinating Agency, Ship Owners, Oil Handling Facilities and other concerned stakeholders are thus, required to be taken to prepare for combating any likely marine spill.

Director General Rakesh Pal, PTM, TM, Director General Indian Coast Guard, the Chairman, NOSDCP in his address, committed that the ICG is cognizant and prepared to counter the threats to the Region and its resources, including marine oil and chemical spills at sea. He stressed that as new vulnerabilities continue to emerge, the stakeholders must recognize the opportunity to enhance cooperation through stronger partnerships, effective coordination and imbibing best practices of the developing technologies. He also stated that Indian Coast Guard is indigenously building two more state of the art Pollution Response Configured Specialized Vessels besides the three existing, to further bolster Pollution Response Capacity.