Forest department uses manual labour to tackle oil spill

After help from locals, the forest department has started using manual labour to clean up the oil spill in the Sundarbans.

Chandpai Forest Range Station Officer Abul Kalam Azad said that 50 boats and trawlers, with atleast two labourers in each, have started removing the oil.

"The labourers will remove oil and other oil stained materials like leaves and branches from Joymoni to Harintana area of the Shela River."

Chandpai Ranges Assistant Forest Conservator Belayet Hossain said they might later double the workforce.

Meanwhile, around 7,200 litres of the 350,000 litres of spilled oil have been collected by the locals and the state-owned Padma Oil Company has bought it from them at Tk 30 per litre.

On Tuesday, an oil tanker sank in the river passing through the forest after being hit by a cargo vessel. It was carrying furnace oil for a power plant in Gopalganj.

The oil spill has already made a huge impact on aquatic plants and wildlife.

On Wednesday, the shipping ministry stopped movement of all vessels in the Shela River until further notice.

The UN also called for a complete ban on all commercial vessels using the waterways of Sundarbans, the largest mangrove forest in the world.

Meanwhile, Shipping Minister Shajahan Khan said on Saturday that the ban on movement of vessels in the Shela River has brought down traffic at the Mongla Sea Port.

"The port faces a crisis of image," he said while speaking to reporters at the Joymoni forest jetty after visiting the Sundarbans.

The minister said that a high-level meeting will be held on Sunday to chalk out an alternative route to ply the vessels.