TEAM HERALD
PANJIM: The Captain of Port department will move a note to State government demanding action against Mormugao Port Trust authorities, after it was found that the oil tanker ‘Pratibha Bhima’ was towed and anchored in the jurisdiction of Panjim Port without prior permissions.
The MPT has also violated provisions of the National Disaster Management Act, under which the vessel was earlier asked to be towed by the State government.
The oil tanker ‘Pratibha Bhima,’ which was stranded 12 nautical miles off the Goa coast in the Arabian Sea and was towed to an MPT berth in May and has now been towed and shifted to the Panjim port jurisdiction. The Captain of Ports has raised strong objection as the move was without any permission.
Speaking to HERALD, Captain James Braganza said that his department would be writing to government to take action against MPT officials and others who are involved in the entire exercise of shifting the vessel without informing the administration and seeking necessary approval.
“The vessel would be now monitored by us but we want government to act against MPT,” he said. Braganza said that District collector under the National Disaster Management Act had asked MPT to tow away the vessel, to allay apprehensions of it drifting on to the Goa coast during the monsoon.
Braganza said that as monsoon has almost ended there is no danger that the vessel might drift. The owner of the vessel has also shown interest in taking away the ship.
270-metre long tanker was shifted to Panjim port on Saturday evening. The Directorate General of Shipping in a communication to government earlier in June has said that CoP can take appropriate action under the relevant section of the Indian Port Act or Major Port Trust Act with regard to the vessel.
