Bhubaneswar/Paradip, Sept. 3: Excise minister Damodar Rout today demanded salvage of the Mongolian ship MV Black Rose that had sunk off the Paradip coast on September 8, 2009, within the port’s seawater limits.

“When will this vessel be retrieved? The sunken ship has not only posed environmental problem, it has also caused difficulty in movement of ships,” said Rout, who represents Paradip in the Assembly.

Demanding a probe, he said it should be ascertained who owned the vessel, whether it had the valid licence and who was exporting iron ore through the vessel.

The probe demand assumes significance in view of the inquiry into the mining scam.

Commerce and transport minister Ramesh Chandra Majhi said: “Since Paradip port comes under the Union shipping ministry, we will request to the ministry for salvage of sunken vessel.”

Steel and mines minister Prafulla Kumar Mallick said he was not aware who was exporting minerals.

“I will ask for a report from the departmental officials,” he said.

“The shipwreck site has been declared as ‘no-navigation’ zone and the wreck is located at about 4 nautical miles from the operational area of the port,” said Gouri Prasad Biswal, port facility and security officer of the Paradip Port Trust.

The wreckage salvage operation is still a non-starter as the Union shipping ministry is yet to release funds required for it. The cost of clearing off the debris is being estimated at Rs 120 crore while the scrap materials accrued from the debris will hardly fetch Rs 4 crore in return. The port trust has submitted a report in this regard to the shipping ministry, said port sources.

Earlier, Orissa High Court had asked the administration to take up the salvage operation. “On directives of the high court, the administration had requested the Union shipping ministry a couple of years ago to sanction funds for the operation under provisions of the Merchant Shipping Act and the Merchant Shipping (Wrecks and Salvage) Rules, 1974. However, we are yet to receive any response from the ministry,” said Jagatsinghpur collector Satya Kumar Mallick.

Incidentally, the Jagatsinghpur district collector is heading an environmental co-ordination committee according to the court directives for the hassle-free salvage of the wreckage. However, salvage operation is yet to get under way due to lack of funds, said an official.