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M. Somasekar

Hyderabad , Sept. 1

THE Department of Ocean Development (DoD) has firmed up a plan to shop for a new ocean vessel that would have capabilities to undertake a range of exploratory activity at low depths in the exclusive economic zone (EEZ) of beyond in the Indian Ocean.

The Ship costing nearly Rs 100 crore has been approved by the Union Finance Ministry and is awaiting final nod from the Centre. It is expected to give a major push to the DoD's ambitious deep-sea mining programme. In addition, the exploitation of non-living and living resources in the EEZ region would get a fillip.

According to Dr Harsh K. Gupta, Secretary, DoD "Global tenders would be floated soon and the vessel could be procured as per the requirements from either a foreign company or Indian. The DoD has proposed that the ship should have a 48 sq.m. platform which could be lowered into the Ocean and also laboratory facilities on board."

The DoD presently uses the `Sagar Kanya' and `Sagar Sampada' the two research ships to undertake exploratory studies for deep-sea nodules, which contain nickel, cobalt and copper.

India has about 75,000 sq. kms of area in the Indian Ocean, after relinquishing 75,000 sq. kms by end of March 2002, as per the International Law of the Sea to search for economically useful minerals, Dr Harsh Gupta told Business Line here on Monday.

To exploit the already completed mining work for nodules, the DoD has set up a 500 kg/day capacity, pilot plant to process and extract nickel, cobalt, copper etc. at the Hindustan Zinc Ltd (HZL) in Udaipur. Another step that speeded up the process of exploitation of the minerals was the deployment of a `Crawler' device developed by the National Institute of Ocean Technology (NIOT), Chennai, he said.

The Crawler, which can reach up to depths of 500 metres now, would be improved to search as low as 5 kms in the near future, Dr Gupta, who was here to inaugurate a "Hindi workshop on Ocean studies", organised by the Indian National Centre for Ocean Information Services (INCOIS), said.

On the search for gas hydrates, Dr Gupta said an Indo-Russian Centre for Gas Hydrates was being set up at the NIOT, Chennai. Russia would provide the technical expertise.

Already scientists from the NIOT are working with Russian scientists at the lake Baikal.

The National Geophysical Research Institute (NGRI), Hyderabad had conducted feasibility studies for gas hydrates along India's western coast, while the Gas Authority of India Ltd (GAIL) and the Oil and Natural Gas Corporation (ONGC) were keen to take up exploitation of this newer gas reserves.

Referring to Antarctica studies, Dr Gupta said efforts were underway to set up a new base station on the icy continent. The surveys to find a suitable location are on and it is expected to freeze on a site by early 2005. India has formed a consortium with South Africa to speed up the process.

This would be third station to be established by India. The first — Dakshin Gangotri has been closed, after it has outlived its utility and Maitri, which is currently under use, the DoD Secretary said.

He said after a review of the Antarctica programme which began in 1981 and about Rs 230 crore were spent, the Centre had okayed a 5 year restructured plan in 2002 with an investment of Rs 170 crore to intensify the country's exploration work on the continent, which would give clues to important weather and seismic activity in India.

Dr Gupta said it was proposed to establish a Global Positioning System (GPS) facility and an absolute gravity meter, which would strengthen research activity on the continent.

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