Govt to develop oil spill management model

New Delhi, Nov 11 (UNI) Fighting oil spills in India is going to be done with satellites and GIS models as the government has started developing general and location-specific plans to protect the country's rich biodiversity and exquisite beaches.

The Earth Sciences Ministry will be building 20 oil spill management models for 20 high-risk coastal areas like the coral and mangrove-rich Gulf of Kutch and the beaches of Goa and Mumbai in the next two years.

The models will be eventually developed for as many as 42 locations, Science and Technology and Earth Sciences Minister Kapil Sibal told a news conference today.

Among other locations for which the ministry is developing models include the entire Kerala coast, Karwar and Mangalore in Karnataka and Dwarka in Gujarat.

In the last three decades, India witnessed oil spill ranging from 1,000 tonnes to 40,000 tonnes. The west coast and Nicobar are believed to be the high-risk areas.

The models are expected to help the coast guard and other agencies to combat oil spills with handy data predicting the spill route and damage potential.

The government's oil spill management programme, which is under the Union Home Ministry, dates back to the 1980s and was last reviewed in 2005.

India has a coast of 5,509 km besides 2,000 km in its islands.

Several archaeological sites are also located in the coastal areas.

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