Natarajan pitches for corpus fund to fight oil spills off

Corpus fund would facilitate cleaning up operation immediately; help limit damage to environment

Union Minister for Environment & Forests Jayanti Natarajan on Thursday made a case for setting up of a Corpus Fund to aid quick response to fight oil spills off the Indian coast. She said, a corpus fund would come in handy under such circumstances and the cleaning up operation could begin immediately, thereby limiting damage to  the environment. 

The outgo from the fund would be reimbursed once the compensation liability is established and claims settled.

Natarajan told reporters after her meeting with all stake holders that the cleaning operation after the oil spills, often got delayed due to lack of clarity about who would fund it.  In recent past there have been frequent incidences of crude oil leakages from breakdown of ships, leakage from pipelines operated by oil companies in west coast.  

The corpus size and the pattern of funding will be finalized after holding consultations with stakeholders and discussing the matter with the Prime Minister,” said Natarajan. She infofmed that the Maharashtra Pollution Control Board had some experience in this regard, acquired while dealing with multiple oil slicks during 2010. She added the Maharashtra model will be studied further.

Natarajan emphasised the need for a  strong environmental laws to deal with shipping vessels that damage India’s fragile coastal eco-system, including provisions for establishing criminal liability.