Chennai: Leaders who visited the Ennore beach to see the clean up of oil spill complained that primitive methods were being used for the process and wanted the governments to do the work using modern technology.
DMDK leader Vijayakanth, who visited the beach, said the works are going on for the last one week at a slow pace since modern equipment is not used.
The fishermen who had been affected by cyclone Vardah, attacks by the Sri Lankan navy and the recent police action at the end of jallikattu protests had been severely hit by the oil spill. The sale of fishes has been hit severely, Vijayakanth said.
When such instances occur, countries use modern technology and equipment, but the clean up process is being done manually and those involved in the work face risk of getting affected by the pollution. The central and state governments should buy modern equipment to face such disasters in future, he said.
PMK youth wing leader Anbumani Ramadoss complained that the oil spill had not been removed in eight days and it is spreading far into other parts of the state coast. He also charged the Ennore port authorities with failing to set up booms, an obstruction to prevent spread of oil spill and later skimmers could have been used to clean it easily. The port authorities did not inform the Coast Guard and other Central ministries and denied that the sea had been affected by oil spill. Continuing the same methods would take a long time and chemicals should be sprayed on them so that they decompose. Besides, he also suggested the use of bio technology and said bacteria could be used to remove the oil spill.
Naam Thamizhar Party leader Seeman, who saw the cleaning works, said volunteers are using buckets to remove the oil spill and it is not known when the process would be completed by this kind of manual work. It shows the country lack progress in modern technology, especially when it comes to environmental disasters, he added and wondered what kind of preparations had been made to face disasters in atomic plants in Koodankulam.
