Ramesh orders inquiry into ship off Alang,Gujarat says it’s clean

While the Gujarat Pollution Control Board (GPCB) and the state government have denied the vessel posed a danger,environmental experts said a “huge disaster” was imminent if the ship,Platinum II,sinks or is allowed to be dismantled at the ship-breaking yard.

“The Indian Platform on Ship-breaking,a coalition of environmental,health,labour and human rights,is demanding that the US government must recall the ship in the same way as the French had recalled Le Clemenceau,” said Gopal Krishna of the group.

The ship allegedly has on board ‘asbestos-containing material’ (ACM) sheets amounting to 200 tonnes. Besides asbestos,up to 20 tonnes of Polychlorinated Biphenyls (PCBs) is also on board the former luxury liner in the form of insulated wiring.

Kushal Singh Yadav,Toxics Department Co-ordinator at the Center for Science and Environment,said the asbestos and PCBs and oil onboard Platinum II would leak into the sea and damage sea-life. Yadav,citing his experience from visits to the yard on research for CSE in previous years,also said the yard is “unequipped” to handle the chemicals onboard the vessel.

“The decontamination should have been done at the point of origin itself — in America. That is standard procedure. The ship should not have been allowed to come here in the first place,” Yadav said. “The GPCB has always been lenient in taking action in these cases. And it keeps on repeating this mistake over and over again.”

GPCB (Bhavnagar) regional officer G Patel,however,categorically denied any threat to environment. “The asbestos is present in form of ceiling and partition. There is no hazardous material in loose form,” he added.

The government too has categorically denied that the ship contains anything hazardous. “We have sent a report to the ministry. Platinum II contains only asbestos and paint. According to SC guidelines,both these material can be removed and the ship can be given the clearance for breaching,” said S K Nanda,state Principal Secretary Forest and Environment.

With PTI inputs