While Chief Minister Manohar Parrikar remains helpless due to ongoing election code of conduct to move out M V Lucky 7 from Miramar beach, the opposition parties have made the best of the situation to score over the BJP’s leader in Panjim.
During the initial days after the in-operational vessel ran aground at the beach, its removal seemed an easier task. But the situation took a tragic twist when the off-shore casino vessel, over a week ago, developed a hole in the hull, that’s getting wider every passing day resulting in damages to the machines installed on the ground floor.
It now seems that the complicated activity that underwent for the removal of the grounded cargo ship M V River Princess off Candolim-Sinquerim coast could be a repeat for Lucky 7 too. Parrikar, during the monsoon session of the legislative assembly had claimed Golden Globe Hotels Pvt Ltd (GGHPL) had defied warning by Captain of Ports department asking not to venture till September 15. However, the Opposition, including some social groups, cornered the government over the issue.
After the government’s direction to remove the vessel, GGHPL hired Mumbai-based firm Arihant Ship Breakers that claimed its experts will refloat and tow the vessel into deep waters by mid-August. But things suddenly changed when GGHPL decided to replace the salvor.
Arihant has now withdrawn all its equipment after the agreement with GGHPL was called off last week. With some claiming that the company’s outdated machineries delayed the salvage operating further leading to partial sinking of the vessel, the company flatly denied the allegation. “It’s all rubbish,” said an official from Arihant.
The firm has blamed the casino company for hindering their operation. “We had completed all the repairs it required before towing it away from the Miramar beach. We were also ready to refloat her (vessel) but then they (GGHPL) asked us to be on standby for 10 days. In the meantime, they decided to turn her without our consent and the ship hull developed further breaches,” he said, confirming the company is not on the project any longer.
Siddhant Jain, one of the directors of the company, had said they will refloat the vessel between August 12 and 15. “Final preparations along with the equipments tests are going on to re-float the vessel. Around 35 experts are a part of the entire exercise and we expect that between August 12 and 15, the vessel should leave the beach,” he had said in an exclusive chat with Herald during the first week of August.
One each 20T BP tug, 80T BP tug, 450MT sheer-leg crane and an amphibious excavator were brought in to assist the salvage team in its mission. Jain, who was also a part of the team for the removal of River Princess, had even denied any comparisons. “River Princess was a wreck removal job wherein cutting and removing of the ship from the area was involved wherein Lucky 7 is to re-float. Therefore both are completely different jobs,” he had explained.
The 26-metre-long wrecked ship’s saga haunted the State for nearly 13 years that not only destroyed the ecology but also affected tourist footfalls in the most frequented beach. After hitting the beach in troubled weather in June 2000 and running aground, a survey indicated that the ship proved a major environmental disaster, affecting the seabed with shards of corroded steel being washed ashore. Experts discovered that during these years the hulk had corroded leaving rusted fragments like shrapnel on the shore. This also threatened swimmers with a travel portal terming Candolim as ‘non-safe.’
The same fear now lies at Miramar beach if the vessel is not moved at the earliest. According to experts in the National Institute of Oceanography (NIO), the extensive disintegration of the Candolim-Sinquerim shoreline wherein about 100 mtrs was eroded, is an example of the impending disaster that could possibly be caused by the presence of Lucky 7 vessel near the coast.
Madgavkar Salvage Private Limited, that is being considered for the rescue of Lucky 7, claims the exercise can begin only after the ports open mid-September. “It has to be salvaged and it has to be done somewhere in September-end, because the ports open mid-September,” one of the directors Anand Madgavkar told Herald.
While the work on the vessel is tentatively decided with the company’s experts onboard the vessel to conduct day-to-day inspection, many factors like weather, movement of the storm, tide, etc will have to be taken into account in the meantime.
“During this interim period, the vessel needs to be looked after to ensure it does not get damaged further. Once the port opens, the whole operation will begin and then proper survey will have to be carried out, proper system has to be worked out and then proper work by the competent people,” he said.
The company, he revealed, has given a proposal ‘for the time being’ and a final proposal will be submitted by September-end considering that the situation for carrying out the salvage operation could change.
The salvaging of the wreck River Princess had also taken a toll on politicians who made empty promises that it will be towed away. The case also reached the High Court of Bombay at Goa, wherein the Goa State Pollution Control Board submitted its report on the environmental implications of the River Princess for the coastline. The Tourism Department also entered the scene and a special law Goa Tourist Places (protection and maintenance) Act 2001 was passed in the legislative assembly for removal of the Princess.
In the present case too, Lucky 7 fears converting into a nuisance vessel.
