Shipping ministry comes under fire

A House committee yesterday deplored Shipping Minister Shajahan Khan's remarks that the oil spill in the Sundarbans would not adversely affect the world's largest mangrove forest and its biodiversity.

The parliamentary standing committee on the forest and environment ministry also expressed resentment over the shipping ministry's rejection to imposing a permanent ban on plying of commercial vessels through the Shela river, to save the Sundarbans.

“We have recommended that the shipping ministry makes the Mongla-Ghasiakhali-Morolganj route eligible for plying of water vessels,” Hasan Mahmud, chief of the committee, told reporters at the Jatiya Sangsad Bhaban.

The committee questioned the shipping ministry's response over the spill and its course of action to minimise the impact on the Sundarbans, a world heritage.

“The committee also asked the shipping ministry to make sure that no unfit and faulty oil tankers can ply any river,” said Mahmud, also a ruling Awami League leader.

The environment ministry informed the JS body that the Southern Star 7, which sank in the Shela river on December 9 carrying some 3.58 lakh litres of furnace oil, was an unfit and faulty vessel.

On December 14, Shajahan Khan rejected the environment ministry's pleas to permanently ban playing of commercial vessels on the Shela.

The environment ministry said they wrote to the shipping ministry several times seeking a permanent ban.

On December 13, Shajahan said the oil spill would cause little harm to the Sundarbans, triggering criticisms by environmentalists.

“We've talked to foreign experts who said the oil spilled from the tanker won't harm the world's largest mangrove forest that much,” said the minister, after visiting Chandpai Range of the Sundarbans.

“It won't affect dolphins and other animals as the oil has not spread that much. The oil couldn't enter the forest as fishing nets were set up on the mouths of canals to prevent its spread. Besides, local people are collecting the spilled oil,” he added.

Only two days before his comment, UNDP Bangladesh Country Director Pauline Tamesis said global experience showed this kind of incident had long-term environmental consequences and it required coordinated efforts to restore the affected areas.

Meanwhile, forest officials yesterday briefed Anwar Hossain Manju, minister for environment and forest, on his return from Peru after attending the climate change conference.

They told the minister that though the impact of the oil spill was already visible, it would have a long-term effect on the mangrove forest.

In the meeting, the ministry decided to do an impact-assessment of the spill.

In another development, an advance team of the United Nations Disaster Assessment and Coordination (UNDAC) arrived in Dhaka on Wednesday to support the government's cleanup efforts.

The team will help the government conduct an impact-assessment and advise on recovery and risk reduction measures, said a UNDP press release.

Other members of the team will arrive in the capital in a few days.

Led by the UNDP, this UN assistance will be supported, among others, by the United Nations Environment Programme (UNEP), the Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs (OCHA), Joint Environment Unit (JEU), and other partner countries including the US, the UK, France and the EU's Civil Protection Mechanism.

Meanwhile, locals continue to collect the oil from the Sundarbans area manually. So far, they sold 65,500 litres of furnace oil collected from the rivers and canals.

In a press release, the forest department said they handed 300 pairs of hand gloves to locals and requested them to use those while collecting oil.