12 hours on, efforts underway to douse fire on cargo ship off Karwar coast
Panaji (PTI): The Indian Coast Guard (ICG) on Saturday said its three ships have been trying to douse the fire that broke out on a merchant vessel - an operation that has been continuing for the last 12 hours off the coast of Karwar in Karnataka.
The three ICS ships - Sujeet, Sachet and Samrat - have been engaged in the firefighting operation on the cargo vessel 6.5 nautical miles south of Karwar, it said.
The ship carrying hazardous material had caught major fire about 102 nautical miles southwest of Goa on Friday.
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On Saturday morning, the ICG said on its X handle, "Ships Sujeet, Sachet and Samrat have been fighting the fire for over 12 hours, preventing its spread. As of 0700 hrs, 20 Jul, the vessel is 6.5 NM south of Karwar."
ICG's Dornier aircraft is conducting aerial assessment, with an additional aircraft from Kochi positioned for the search and rescue operation, it said.
"ETV Water Lily departed #Mumbai on 19 Jul, arriving on scene by 21 Jul," it added.
The merchant vessel, on its way from Mundra to Colombo, was reportedly carrying "International Maritime Dangerous Goods (IMDG) cargo" and explosions have been occurring on its front part, the ICG had said on Friday.
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India is the place for large-scale organic production, says Commerce Secretary
Nuremberg (PTI): India is the place for large-scale organic production and the country is keen to collaborate with the EU to strengthen this ecosystem to cater to rising demands, Commerce Secretary Rajesh Agrawal said here on Tuesday.
Agrawal also said that India's organic products exports have grown threefold over the last 10 years, and the government now aims to triple them again over the next five years.
"India is the place" to serve the world as a good organic food basket, he said, adding that India has 150.3 million hectares of agricultural land under cultivation.
He said that the organic ecosystem is growing very fast in the country, as today, 3 per cent of India's cultivation is organic.
In India, 4.7 million hectares of land is under organic cultivation, with 2.4 million farmers practising it, and it is only increasing by the day, he said.
The Secretary was speaking at the inauguration of Biofach 2026. About 100 exhibitors from 20 Indian states, including Assam, Meghalaya, and Kerala, are here to showcase their organic food products at the world's leading trade fair Biofach show (February 10-13).
He informed that India is emerging as a credible supplier of organic food, both within India and outside.
"I see this happening in a much faster manner. So if world needs the state for organic production, I think India is the place, and we like to work with all of you to see how we can improve the Indian organic food ecosystem to serve both the Indian rising demand within India and also the rising demand in two of our biggest markets," he said.
He called for creating credibility around organic foods. There is a need to ensure trust and credibility around the certification of these products.
India started with the national programme for organic production way back in 2001 and that was designed to adopt the international standards of organic goods.
"And now we are bringing in cooperatives in a big way," he said, adding that cooperatives can bring in and aggregate farmers to create good, viable organic ecosystem in various villages across the country.
