VIBHA VERMA
PANJIM: The Tourism Department has approached two institutes of national repute to conduct surveys to confirm the presence of iron metal beneath the seabed off Sinquerim beach, from where large remnants of the grounded vessel River Princess were recently extracted.
The department has referred the matter to IIT Bombay and National Hydrographic Institute in Hyderabad through a written communiqué about two weeks ago.
Speaking to Herald, Tourism Director Ameya Abhyankar said the development comes in the wake of National Institute of Oceanography’s findings mentioning large magnetic anomaly along the area where the vessel was grounded over a decade ago.
“Based on NIO’s recommendation to investigate the iron particles, we have requested the two institutes to send proposals about conducting a survey, the cost it will incur and the time it will take to complete the study,” he said.
In a confidential report on the geophysical survey submitted to the Goa government, NIO confirmed that the seabed was cleared of all submerged metallic wreckage of River Princess, but that the portion beneath the seafloor had significant amounts of iron metal present.
“It will not impact the marine life or environment in the present circumstance. The marine life is free from all obstacles,” the report had stated, which was exclusively released by Herald in January 2015.
While the report came as a relief to Arihant Shipbreakers, that had earlier failed to completely remove large remnants of the grounded vessel, the state has till date held back releasing their payment of Rs 99 crore citing ‘salavage operation isn’t declared complete’.
“We have not made any payment to Arihant as yet, based on the ‘no cure no pay principle,” Abhyankar said.
Once the Tourism Department receives the proposal, the director said, the monitoring committee will decide on the further course of action. “We are hopeful the entire process will be complete soon,” he said.
In October 2012, NIO’s report had found the presence of large remnants of the grounded ship at water depths between three and 10 meters off the beach where the vessel was grounded. While the penetration of the wreck into seabed could not be ascertained then, a large part of the metallic structure was found to be exposed to water, protruding several feet above the seabed. The government had then halted the payment to Arihant until the wreckage was entirely removed from the seabed. The government then ordered another wreckage removal operation.
The contractors, in October 2014 submitted a report to the Tourism Department claiming it had removed the wreckage. The Tourism Department had then moved the NIO requesting it to conduct a fresh survey, which was carried out in November 2014 by two separate NIO teams – geophysical survey and diving team consisted of seven members each.
