MUMBAI, June 8: Officials from the Pollution Control Cell of the Mumbai Port Trust (MBPT) have stated that there is no threat to the beaches of Alibag from an oil slick which was washed ashore late last month.

``Though we spotted plastic floatsam soaked in oil and a few blobs of oil on some of the beaches south of Alibag, the water was clear and there was no smell of oil,'' said a senior MBPT official who conducted a survey of nine beaches at Alibag on Saturday.

An oil slick from an unidentified source was washed up on several beaches there late last month and coagulated into pancake-size sand nuggets at some beaches on a 165-km stretch of Alibag.

Confirming the pollutant was fuel oil, the MBPT official stated that it was impossible to determine the source. It could, however be a merchant vessel cleaning its bilges t at sea. Due to the recent rains and high tides which had dispersed the oil, it was also impossible to establish the quantity of the spill.

Copyright © 1997 Indian Express Newspapers (Bombay) Ltd.