Instead of using modern technology to clear the oil slick, it is surprising that the authorities are using small buckets to drain out the slush, the DMK MPs who raised the issue in parliament said.

Tamil Nadu government now wants help of the central government to tackle the massive oil spill along Chennai coast that is threatening an ecological disaster for the city that braved a flood and a cyclone in successive years in 2015 and 2016.

What started as a collision between two ships on Saturday early morning has blown into a major environmental disaster with dead turtles washing ashore and different marine species facing danger all along the 35 km of coastline in Chennai.

Now the oil slick has reached the upmarket Elliots beach and Marina beach that had hosted the recent student’s uprising in support of Jallikattu.

On Thursday, full five days after the accident, the authorities were still struggling to cleanse the coastline of oil slick that has turned the coast of the second longest beach in the world into a dark, muddy, slushy area as the damaged ship disgorged its oil into the sea. The Tamil Nadu government has sought the help of centre to deal with the problem even as the Coast guard, Chennai metropolitan water supply and sewerage board and volunteers were on the spot trying to remove the slush from the coastline.

The metropolitan water body had deployed super suckers to suck out the slush, but hundreds of people lining up, handing out buckets full of slush to each other to pass it onshore was a familiar sight along coastline.

The opposition DMK quickly pounced on the government for mishandling the incident and questioned as to why the authorities dilly dallied on such an important issue. Incidentally, union minister Pon Radhakrishnan had visited the accident spot at Ennore port on Sunday and said there was nothing to worry at all, even as local fishermen and environmentalists sounded a note of caution.

Local fishermen complain of lost business as health issues were turning away customers and their catch was left unsold. “We are not even going for fishing now. Actually we are busy helping in cleaning up,” said a fisherman Tiruvanmiyur. The oil spill had spread across a patch 30 km long along the coast.

The issue found resonance in parliament on Thursday, with DMK Rajya Sabha MP Kanimozhi raising the issue and blaming the government for failing in its duty completely. It did not show the urgency or importance the issue deserved and even had falsely assured the people that nothing was going to happen, she said.

DMK spokesperson TKS Elangovan too blasted the government for its laziness in handling the situation. Instead of taking action on a war footing, the agencies involved were taking out oil with buckets. “Technology is available to clean oil spill, but the government was using people to drain out the oil with buckets,” Elangovan said.

The extent of damage is yet to be properly estimated, but for the present, the focus is on cleaning the coastline.

For the marine life, the damage is extensive, environmentalists like Nityanand Jayaraman say. First, the Ennore port said only 1 tonne oil had leaked following the collision between the two ships, but by Wednesday the Coast Guard authorities said they had estimated sludge of 40 tonnes. It was then estimated that 27 tonnes of oil mixed with water.

According to an eyewitness, the collision of ships took place around 4 a.m. on Saturday. Oil began gushing out into the sea as if being pumped out, said the fisherman.