Port Blair, Jul 11: Indian Coast Guard, under the aegis of HQ ANC conducted an international maritime organization (IMO) Level-I course for the various stakeholders responsible for Pollution Response Operations in Andaman and Nicobar Islands. The course was conducted by Coast Guard Pollution Response Team (A&N) from 04th to 08th July 2022 at Port Blair.
Coast Guard is the Central Coordinating Agency for combating oil pollution in the Maritime Zones of India and conducts the course in line with the guidelines of the OPRC Convention 1990, to which India is a signatory. Any oil spill in the seas around the A&N Islands will have a severe environmental impact on the marine ecosystem and adversely affect the dependent economic / tourism activities.
Accordingly, the IMO level courses are structured and conducted by A & N Command to provide effective training to all stakeholders for coordinated response operations against any marine oil spills at sea.
The training course was attended by participants/ officials from the Dept of Environment & Forests, Port Management Board (PMB), Andaman & Nicobar Pollution Control Committee (PCC), Marine Police Force (PMF), and Indian Oil Corporation Limited (IOCL), apart from personnel of Coast Guard.
The course curriculum provided the participants an insight into the various facets of pollution response in terms of awareness, preparedness, response, legal regulations and practical exposure to the handling of pollution response equipment. Certificates for successful completion of the IMO Level-I training were presented to all the participants, at the end of the course.