Fresh traces of oil sheen dots Mamallapuram coast

For many, Mamallapuram is a preferred spot to surf, swim and while away on a lazy Sunday. But this weekend, visitors to the beach were dismayed to find tar balls dotting the shore. Aine Edwards, a resident of Mamallapuram, said she and her friends spotted the tar balls while conducting their regular beach clean-up session on Sunday.

“While we were removing plastic from the beach, one of my friends spotted the tar balls across the beach. We didn’t know what to do with it. There were also traces in the water. So, we ended up not going for our usual swim. We also spotted a dead turtle on the beach,” she said. 

Mamallapuram, especially on the weekend, is a popular surfing destination. Mukesh (a.k.a Mumu), a surf instructor, said the tourists turned away from the beach, after they noticed the tar balls. Many of them kept asking us when the situation will get better. In fact, we usually train surfing students but on Sunday, we couldn’t do so, because of the oil traces on the water. One of our instructors went ahead with a session but returned with his feet covered in oil. Almost six km of the coastline is dotted with the tar balls,” added the resident. 

The oil spill, which resulted due to a collision between MT Dawn Kanchipuram and MT BW Maple, severely affected RK Nagar beach near Ernavur. While the Indian Coast Guard cleared 35,000 metric square of oil sheen in the deep sea, the heavy fuel oil, which had turned into a sludge, collected at the RK Nagar beach and had to be manually removed. On Saturday, Kamarajar Port Limited (KPL) stated, “Oil spill clean-up is completed. Only rock wash is being done by the vessel owners. Claim desk is also set up by Insurers of Vessel in Chennai for preferring claims.” 

A trajectory prediction by ESSO - Indian National Centre for Ocean Information Services (INCOIS) showed that the oil drift has reached beyond Kanathur on East Coast Road by February 8, affecting 52 km of the coastline. 

Though the oil-spill has been cleaned up, the question still remains on who will oversee the long-term repercussions, such as continuing deposits of tar balls on the beach? An official from the Port said, “The clean-up will be done through the Tamil Nadu Pollution Control Board (TNPCB) and the Coast Guard, through MT Dawn Kanchipuram’s ship owners.”

V Parisutham, Project Director — Solid Waste Management, Hand In Hand India, which undertakes the disposal of solid waste in Mamallapuram, said the clean-up doesn’t come under their purview. “We are only responsible for the municipal solid waste. If it is a minor clean-up and the local administration seeks our support, we will help them.”