A parliamentary watchdog has held the Shipping Ministry responsible for the oil spill catastrophe in the Sundarbans, saying the ministry neither ensured the fitness of the vessels nor responded immediately after the incident.
The body also expressed its dissatisfaction over the Disaster Management and Relief Ministry’s failure to respond after the oil tanker capsize.
The observations were made yesterday at an emergency meeting of the Parliamentary Standing Committee on Environment and Forests Ministry, presided by committee chairman Hasan Mahmud.
The meeting, held at the Jatiya Sangsad building, also recommended a stop to the movement of vulnerable and unfit oil tankers on the river route.
On December 9, an oil tanker carrying about 357,000 litres of furnace oil sank in the Sela River in the Sundarbans.
Sources present at yesterday’s meeting said the locals have so far been able to collect 60,800 litres of oil as of Wednesday.
“The Shipping Ministry did not take any effective measure after the Sela River incident occurred. They did not even take this committee’s recommendation three years ago [in 2011] to stop the plying of water vessels through the Sundarbans,” Hasan Mahmud told a press briefing at the parliament media centre after the meeting.
In 2013, the Environment and Forest Ministry again asked the Shipping Ministry about the progress made on implementing its previous recommendation. To this, the Shipping Ministry reportedly replied that they would comply with the suggestion by 2014 – a self-imposed deadline which they also missed.
Hasan Mahmud termed the capsize of the oil tanker a catastrophe to the long-term ecology and environment of the Sundarbans.
Earlier, Shipping Minister Shajahan Khan had claimed that the capsized tanker had the proper fitness certificate.
Asked about the shipping minister’s comment, Hasan Mahmud said Environment Ministry officials have found out that the tanker had no fitness certificate.
He added that the Disaster Management and Relief Ministry had also taken no action following the disaster.
“It was a disaster indeed, and we also want to know why the Disaster Management Ministry did not take it seriously,” the watchdog chief added.
Replying to a query, Hasan Mahmud said they would not compare this disaster with any other, but added that it would hamper the national economy for a long time.
“It will take a long time for the fishes to come back and we will also need to wait three to four years for the trees to regrow,” he said
The standing committee also asked the government to submit an assessment report on the long-term impact of the oil spill in the Sela River.
Officials of the Environment Ministry told the standing committee that the dissolved oxygen in the Sela River has recently improved to an average level of 6.8ml per litre – which was still higher than the 5.5ml per litre safe limit.
Yesterday’s meeting was attended by Environment and Forest Minister Anwar Hossain Manju, Deputy Minister for Environment and Forest Abdullah Al Islam, and lawmakers Nobi Newaz, Golam Rabbani, Tipu Sultan, Mujibur Rahman Chowdhury and Merina Rahaman.