Date:19/01/2006 URL: http://www.thehindu.com/2006/01/19/stories/2006011902521300.htm

National

`Ship will be denied entry if found carrying hazardous waste'

Special Correspondent

CPCB to conduct survey of ship

To be allowed to Alang if it carries permissible levels of asbestos
Final decision to be taken after next Court hearing

Brinda Karat meets Manmohan, presents memorandum

NEW DELHI: India would not allow the Clemenceau, de-commissioned French warship, into its waters if it is found carrying hazardous waste, Environment and Forest Minister A. Raja said here on Wednesday.

Speaking at the Sixth Editors Conference on Social Sector Issues, Mr. Raja said the Central Pollution Control Board (CPCB) had been asked to conduct a physical survey of the ship to ascertain the quantity of asbestos it carried. If it carried permissible levels or other hazardous waste as insulator, it would be allowed to enter Alang in Gujarat for dismantling.

The Basel Convention does not prohibit the ship from coming to India for dismantling if it has permissible limits of hazardous waste, he said.

`Abide by decision'

However, the final decision on allowing the ship would be known when the Supreme Court hears the issue on February 13. The Supreme Court Monitoring Committee (SCMC) would meet again on January 20 and submit its report to the Court.

"We will abide by the Supreme Court decision," he said.

"No certificate issued"

Asked whether his Ministry had given any no-objection certificate to the French Government based on which the Egyptian Government had permitted the ship to pass through its waters, Mr. Raja said no such certificate had been given.

Mr. Raja said the Gujarat Government was asked to conduct a survey of the ship-breaking yard at Alang to ascertain the working conditions there following reports of several deaths in the recent years.

The Communist Party of India (Marxist) Polit Bureau member Brinda Karat met Prime Minister Manmohan Singh to seek his intervention in the matter. Dr. Singh assured Ms. Karat that he would discuss the matter with the Ministry concerned.

In a memorandum submitted to him, Ms. Karat said the Supreme Court order prohibiting the ship from entering India until February 13 gave the United Progressive Alliance (UPA) Government the opportunity to reconsider and reverse the "untenable" stand taken by the Environment and Forests Ministry on the issue.

Experts dismayed

The memorandum said the Ministry's present stance has greatly dismayed experts.

It has been arguing in favour of allowing the ship to enter Alang, without considering the terrible impact it would have on the workers' health.

Most of them were poor, migrant workers whose economic vulnerability was being exploited to get them to do work hazardous to their health, the memorandum said.