Kolkata, Oct 27 (IANS) The Indian Coast Guard (ICG) organised the 28th National Oil and Hazardous and Noxious Substances (HNS) Spill Crisis Management Plan (NOH-CMP) and Preparedness Review in New Delhi on Tuesday.
The event was chaired by Paramesh Sivamani, DG, ICG. It brought together over 80 representatives from key central and state ministries, government bodies, major ports, and oil industry stakeholders.
The primary agenda focused on evaluating and strengthening India’s defensive readiness against oil spills and HNS emergencies within the Exclusive Economic Zone (EEZ).
During the meeting, the DG emphasised that integrating the world’s best practices and cutting-edge response methods is vital to neutralise environmental hazards effectively.
Combating oil spills has been one of the focus areas of the ICG for years. Recently, HNS spills have become a matter of major concern with the growth of India’s maritime infrastructure.
In 2025, an incident involving a container ship carrying hazardous noxious substances occurred off the coast of Kerala.
The MSC Elsa 3 sank around 38 nautical miles off the port city of Kochi, Kerala, on May 25, 2025. All 24 crew members were safely rescued from the vessel. The vessel was carrying 640 containers, including 13 with hazardous noxious cargo, 12 of which are believed to have contained calcium carbide, a substance that reacts violently with seawater, producing highly flammable acetylene gas in addition to heat and calcium hydroxide that pose serious risks to human health and the marine environment. The ICG responded to the crisis promptly and responded to the incident.
This included engaging salvors to recover the containers and deploying efforts to minimise any potential pollution damage from a reported oil slick that had extended from the vessel.
In addition to its cargo, the ship was carrying 85 tonnes of diesel and 367 tonnes of furnace oil. The ship was also carrying thousands of sacks of raw plastic nurdles.
The debris and these lentil-sized plastic pellets (1–5 mm) spread across nine coastal districts in Kerala (including Alappuzha, Kollam, and Thiruvananthapuram) and drifted over 100 kilometres away to Kanyakumari and parts of Tamil Nadu. By June, ocean currents carried them as far as northern Sri Lanka.
The spill forced a months-long fishing ban, severely impacting local fishing communities. The nurdles absorb toxins, break down into micro- and nano-plastics, and enter the marine food chain via fish and filter feeders.
The total estimated damages were pegged at Rs 9,531 crore. This was disputed by the shipping company. Though India is a member state of the International Oil Pollution Compensation Fund, 1992, the Elsa 3 was not a tanker carrying oil as cargo, and therefore any pollution damage resulting from the incident would not be covered by the 1992 Civil Liability and Fund Conventions.
This incident would, however, have been covered by the pending 2010 HNS Convention had the Convention been in force. The HNS Convention covers personal injury claims, fire and explosion and incidents involving a wide range of hazardous and noxious substances.
Once the HNS Convention is in force, it would ensure that funding is in place to provide compensation for clean-up activities, preventive measures, environmental monitoring, property damage and economic loss.
The ICG has been entrusted with the responsibility of protecting India’s marine environment since March 1986, and it continues to serve as the central coordinating authority for oil spill response.
The NOSDCP, drafted by the ICG and approved in 1993, remains the foundational framework for national oil spill preparedness.
To operationalise this plan, the ICG has established four Pollution Response Centres at Mumbai, Chennai, Port Blair, and Vadinar.
–IANS
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