India needs stringent regulations to check disasters: Pachauri

NEW DELHI - India should have “strong and effective” regulations to prevent disasters like the oil spill off Mumbai, Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change (IPCC) chief R.K. Pachauri said Tuesday.

“The disaster that happened there and caused the oil spill indicated that we should have some strategies so that it is not repeated,” Pachauri told reporters here.

“The Mumbai ports are very busy ports. It was very close to Mumbai city and there are a lot of lives involved even those in the trade like the fishermen. We should concentrate more on prevention. They managed to clean it in two days but if you look at the Gulf of Mexico, it is very difficult to control these kind of situations.

“Our regulations are very strong but they should be strong and effective so that these things are not repeated. The glitch is in implementing them on institutional level,” he added.

Panamanian cargo carrier MSC Chitra and a St. Kitts ship MV Khalijia-III Saturday morning collided outside the Mumbai harbour, barely five kilometres from south Mumbai - causing the oil spill.

Due to the impact of the collision, three containers on MSC Chitra’s deck dropped into the sea. The vessel had 2,662 tonnes of heavy oil in its various tanks and 245 tonnes of diesel oil.

Pachauri, who is also the Director General of The Energy and Resources Institute (TERI), was at the India Habitat Centre to launch documentary series “Colours of India”.

Co-produced by TERI and the Surabhi Foundation, the series will be aired on National Geographic Channel Network and has been made possible with the corporate social responsibility (CSR) efforts of Oil and Natural Gas Corporation (ONGC).

The first DVD copy of the films were launched by the Petroleum and Natural Gas Minister Murli Deora, who chose to stay tight-lipped over the oil spill issue.