TEAM HERALD
PANJIM: The Tourism Department asked the National Institute of Oceanography (NIO) and Goa Shipyard Limited (GSL) to assist it in the monitoring and removal of the remaining debris of M V River Princess lying buried off the Sinquerim-Candolim coast.
Top officials in the department said that the NIO will help in monitoring the removal of the debris while the GSL will assist in assessing the metal tonnage removed from the sea bed.
The agency engaged to remove the vessel, M/s Arihant Ship Breakers will undertake the process for removal of the debris, a task it left incomplete since May 2012.
“So far all local clearances have been obtained,” said a key Tourism Department official, adding that the process for obtaining the central clearances are also in the final stages and the respective files would be with the department soon.
“We are hoping that the process for removal of the remaining debris begins in October and is completed within four months,” said this official.
A dump site for the metal removed has also been identified and Goa Shipyard Limited has accepted a request from the Tourism Ministry to help assess the quantum of tonnage unearthed from the seabed.
GSL is expected to throw light on the exact tonnage of the M V River Princess vis-a- vis the metal debris already removed and to be extricated as original drawings of the vessel have been obtained from Japan recently.
Eyebrows had been raised in the recent past over the metal tonnage of the grounded vessel, metal scrap removed and sold and the balance wreckage lying beneath the sea bed.
“With two major agencies helping out, now we can hope for an end to the long drawn process of getting the vessel and its wreckage out from Goa’s coastline,” said this official.
The M V River Princess saga enters the 13th year since it was grounded at Candolim. While in May 2012 the ship breaking agency claimed to have removed the wreckage and asked for payments, the NIO underwater survey conducted in October 2012 however revealed the presence of huge ferro metallic material of the 11- year- old wreckage.
While scattered pieces of debris were seen, a sunken structure of 180m x 40 m dimensions was reported by the NIO underwater recordings.
The state level monitoring committee comprising of top government officials and representatives of various agencies are also overseeing the entire process.
