Chennai: DMK working president M.K. Stalin on Saturday urged the central and state governments to take steps to clean up the oil spill quickly and provide interim relief to fishermen whose livelhood have been hit severely.
Stalin who spoke to the media, after inspecting the cleaning works at Ennore, said fishermen have suffered heavy losses and expressed concern over the works in the desalination plants of Nenmeli and Minjur. The state government should form an expert committee to look into the situation and take action.
The government should file a case against the shipping companies and argue the case in a way to get proper compensation for the losses suffered by the fishermen, besides the damage caused to the environment.
The government was complacent on the issue and initially when questions were raised in the Assembly, the Fisheries minister said the amount of oil spill was just 72 metric tonnes.
