Chattogram, Oct 27 (UNB) – An environmental court here on Sunday fined the owner of Desh-1 oil tanker Tk 3 crore for polluting the Karnaphuli River as oil from the tanker spilled into the river following its collision with another vessel on Thursday.
Desh-1 was fined for harming aquatic animals, said Sanjukta Das Gupta, a deputy director at the Department of Environment, Chittagong division.
The court exempted lighterage ship ‘CT 38’, the second ship with which the collision took place, from the allegation, she added.
Around 1,200 litres of oil spilled into the river from a Desh-1 oil tanker following the collision with ‘CT 38’ in Dolphin Oil Jetty-3 area of Chittagong Port around 3am on Friday, endangering the river and the environment.
The authorities concerned claimed that they retrieved over 8,000 litres of oil from the river by Saturday.
Three people, including the masters of the two ships, were arrested over the incident while the two vessels were seized.
The Environment Department has sent a letter signed by Captain Syed Md Kamrul Alam to the Chanttogram Port Authority informing that the oil spilled from the tanker harming the environment seriously.
The port authority was requested to take punitive action against two masters and owners of the ships, said Captain Md Faridul Alam, deputy conservator, Chattogram Port Authority.
Considering the issue of river pollution, almost 80 percent of the spilled oil has been retrieved from the river by Saturday, said Chattogram Port secretary Md Omar Faruk.
Bay Cleaner-1 and 2, Steamer 1 and 2, Tag Kandari-8, 10 and 11 jointly retrieved the oil.
In its letter, the Environment Department to port executive magistrate said Md Nasir Uddin (Master of Desh-1) of Faridpur, Jamshed Hossain (Master of CT38) of Narail are responsible for the accident.
It also suggested taking steps against Md Nasir Uddin, owner of Messer’s Agragami Shipping Lines (Desh-1) of Narayanganj; Fazlul Haque, owner of Messer’s CT Edible Oil Ltd, Gulshan-2 under Section 56 (Ka) /61(Ka) of Inland Shipping Ordinance 1976.
