State wants independent body to protect bio-diversity in Gulf of Kutch

The last month’s oil spill across a 100-km swath on the south Gujarat coast,which served as “a wake-up call”,appears to have prompted the government to make a plea to the Centre to form a separate authority to ensure,among other things,the prevention of such incidents that frequently occur in the Gulf.

Principal Secretary (Forest and Environment) S K Nanda has written to the Union ministry,requesting it to establish the Authority on the lines of Great Barrier Reef Authority set up in Australia.

In the letter addressed to his counterpart in the Union ministry,Nanda has stated that such an

Authority,if set up,will help manage and protect the rich and fragile bio-diversity in the country’s first Marine National Park.

Besides it will also regulate the increasing industrial activities in the Gulf,he said in the letter.

“There is an urgent need to have an independent Authority that may act as a unified agency to deal with the various issues in the Gulf of Kutch,such as,the conservation and protection of fragile flora and rare endangered marine species,and the development and management of the entire ecologically sensitive area,” Nanda told The Indian Express on Friday.

Asked,he said the Authority,if set up,could have representatives from both the Gujarat government and the Union Environment and Forest Ministry to oversee to regulate the activities in the Gulf.

The area was declared a sanctuary in 1980 and Marine National Park in 1982.

The Protected Area is located in inter-tidal zone along the coastal zone of Jamnagar,extending over nearly 170 kms in the Gulf of Kutch.

It includes 42 islands in the Gulf,of which 33 have coral reefs.

Environmentalists insist that industrial activities in this coastal zone,especially the laying of sub-sea crude oil pipelines through the marine park and sanctuary,must be regulated to protect the rich bio-diversity there.

Besides the presence of two major oil refineries — Reliance and Essar — off the Jamnagar coast,the India Oil Corporation Limited (IOCL) has also set up two Single Buoy Moorings (SBMs) off the Vadinar coast to off-load imported crude oil for supply to its Mathura and Koyali refineries.

Even the Bharat Oman Refineries Ltd (BORL’s) proposal to lay a sub-sea pipeline off the Jamnagar coast to carry imported crude oil for its refinery at Beena in Madhya Pradesh has been sanctioned.