In a reply to a question in Rajya Sabha today the Minister of State for Shipping (I/C) and Chemicals & Fertilizers, Shri Mansukh Mandaviya said that theGovernment has developed a standard operating procedure for all ports in the country to deal with oil spills and other accidents that can damage the marine ecology surrounding the ports.

He said that the central government has formulated a scheme for providing assistance to major ports and oil handling non- major ports under state maritime Boards/State Govts. for combating oil pollution and for mitigation measures. Under the Scheme 10 Major Ports and 8 Non Major Ports have been provided financial assistance so far for procurement of Oil Spill Response (OSR) equipment as per specifications suggested in NOSDCP-2015.

He said that the National Oil Spill Disaster Contingency Plan (NOSDCP) delineates the role and responsibility of various authorities including ports during an oil spill. Annual calendar is published for conduct of different levels of exercises involving various stakeholders for exercising their capabilities in mitigating risk of oil spills in their area of jurisdiction. As per NOSDCP, ports are required to be capable of handling tier-I level of oil spill within their jurisdiction.

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