Protests have erupted on the streets of Mumbai demanding that India put pressure on the Iranian authorities to grant a safe passage to the 1.4 oil tanker MT Desh Shanti presently detained at the Bandar Abbas port. But sources in directorate general of shipping, ministry of shipping, point out that the Iranian authorities claim they have found that the ship contained “oily ballast water”. Ballast water is used to stabilise vessels at sea and is expected to be emptied out before a ship docks at a port having become a source of major environmental pollution since it often contains invasive species of micro-organisms. Ships are, according to DGS sources, expected to exchange the water in the high seas which was not done in the case of MT Desh Shanti but it had definitely not caused an oil spill as is being claimed by the Iranian authorities. The problem of invasive species has become so acute that the International Marine Organisation has hammered out an International Convention for the Control and Management of Ships Ballast Water & Sediments which has been ratified by 37 countries is expected to help curb this problem. India is expected to sign it in the coming months which will require that a record be maintained of that the ballast water being used does not carry too many harmful micro-organisms. Environmentalists point out that while the Iranian Revolutionary Guards did not think twice about detaining an Indian ship, the Indian government has had no qualms about allowing polluted ships like Exxon and Valdez enter Indian waters with impunity. In recent years, environment minister Jayanti Natarajan has admitted to 40 vessels having spilled oil off the coast of Mumbai with little action having been initiated against the concerned parties. Shipping Corporation of India chairman-cum-managing director B.K. Mandal has refuted the allegation that MT Desh Shanti polluting Iranian waters was but Iranian authorities have not responded to the Indian appeal. Mr Mandal said Iran has not accepted the investigation report submitted by India.
