Oil won't damage Sundarbans much, says the shipping minister

The oil spill in the Sundarbans will not do much damage to the forest and its aquatic life, says the shipping minister.

Khulna Correspondentbdnews24.com
Published : 13 Dec 2014, 04:56 PM
Updated : 15 Dec 2014, 07:39 AM

But environmentalists fear an ecological disaster is imminent.

"Experts have confirmed to me that this won't cause serious damage. The damage would've been far greater if it was diesel or petrol instead of furnace oil," Shajahan Khan told reporters at Khulna Press Club on Saturday evening.

"The chemical impact of furnace oil is minimal. It would have been worse during rains because the oil would have spread further. But now there won't be any major damage," he said.

The minister said entry into the canals inside the forest were closed with nets and cloth to ensure the spill would not spread anymore.

Apart from the help from locals, the forest department is also using manual labours to skim the oil from the water.

'Southern Star-7', carrying 350,000 litres of furnace oil, sank on the Shela River on Tuesday after being hit by another cargo vessel.

The sunken tanker was towed to the shore on Thursday, but, by then, the oil had spilled across nearly 80 square kilometres stretch in the Sundarbans.
Environmentalists fear the spill would hamper the ecology and diversity of life there, including the aquatic life and plants, specially the Irrawaddy dolphins.
Environment experts say plants would not grow back on river banks and shoals that have come into contact with the furnace oil.
The plants near the river and canals inside the world's largest mangrove forest that came into contact with oil will also die slowly, they said.

Meanwhile, the oil spill has started affecting the wildlife in the Sundarbans.

A 31-km stretch of the Shela and Pashur rivers are dolphin sanctuary and they are mostly seen near a breeding centre for the wildlife along the Pashur River.

But locals said no dolphin had been seen there since Wednesday.

No crocodiles were also seen on the shoals inside the forest as migratory birds have moved away from the Pashur River.

However, forest officials said no dead fish had been spotted on the Shela River since Tuesday's accident, but a number of dead crabs were spotted at several places.

Around 7,200 litres of spilled oil have been collected using pots, pans, sacks and sponges by the locals until Saturday afternoon.

State-owned Padma Oil Company has bought it from them at Tk 30 per litre.

Addressing reporters in the evening, Shajahan Khan rejected Awami League leader Suranjit Sengupta's allegation that the 'disaster' could have been averted if government agencies including the shipping ministry were not 'indifferent' to the situation.

"The government and the shipping ministry are not indifferent. We are taking various measures to solve the problem."

"Three investigation committees have been formed. The ship which hit Southern Star-7, MV Total, has also been detained."

He admitted that he got the news of the tanker's sinking late.

The Ghashiakhali Channel, used as India-Bangladesh water protocol route and maritime communication route for the country's southern region, was closed nearly three years ago after Mongla's Nala River and Rampal's Kumar River dried up.

Since then BIWTA has been using Shela River inside the Sundarbans as an alternate route.

Responding to a query on the issue, the minister said using that river as an alternate route was allowed because dredging on Ghashiakhali Channel is yet to take place.

"No past government conducted dredging on this channel and now the responsibility has landed on us. The process has started," he added.

Khan hoped they would be able to open the channel for traffic in one year.