It seems when it comes to a private company, it makes the mess, and the government of India picks up the tab.
Now, who pays for the clean-up of the oil spill from MV Rak? The ship was carrying coal for Adani enterprises from Indonesia to Dahej port in Gujarat. It sank 24 nautical miles off the Mumbai coast, and it’s been spilling oil like nobody’s business ever since.
In January this year, when an ONGC pipeline leaked oil, ONGC swung into action and spent its money cleaning up the mess. It seems when it comes to a private company, it makes the mess, and the government of India picks up the tab. Insurance will cover Adani’s losses. What about the massive financial and environmental damage that has been done to Mumbai’s coast. The ministry of shipping was busy passing the buck. The director general of shipping only met company officials 48 hours after the spill.
An Adani Enterprise official told DNA, “We were importing the coal for a third party and our consignment was fully insured. We’re not liable to pay for the damages caused by the oil spill as we did not own the ship.” Cool! According to ministry officials and the coast guard, fuel was leaking out of the submerged vessel at the rate of 1.5 to 2 tonnes per hour on Sunday and had spread to around seven nautical miles. The rate, according to the coast guard, fell to 1 tonne per hour by Monday.
The ship was carrying 290 tonnes of fuel oil, 49 tonnes of diesel and four tons of lubricating oil when it sank.
The union shipping ministry, the director general of shipping and Adani Enterprise have all washed their hands off the spill, blaming the Quatar-based owner of the vessel, Delta Shipping. A top shipping ministry official told DNA, “The initial action is taken by the coast guard. On the coast, the operations will have to be conducted by the state government. The ministry would come into the picture only at the stage when there has to be fixation of compensation, which in turn has to be borne by the company and the insurer of the ship owner.”
DG Shipping seconded the ministry’s view: “Principally, the responsibility of taking out oil from the sunken ship rests with the ship owner. The ship has an insurance cover,” said an official in DG Shipping. It was evident though that DG Shipping was caught napping and only woke up and met Adani officials on Monday, a full two days after the ship sank.
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