French ship won't be allowed if it is hazardous

The controversy over entry of the asbestos-laden decommissioned French warship Clemenceau took a new turn with the Centre asserting that the Central Pollution Control Board will inspect the ship and if it was found to be containing hazardous waste it would not be allowed to enter Indian waters.

The Centre has ordered the CPCB, Indian Maritime Organisation and Gujarat State Pollution Control Board to check whether the ship has hazardous material and if found, the government would not allow it to touch Indian shores, Environment Minister A Raja said.

However, the matter would be decided by the Supreme Court and the government would abide by its order, he added.

The apex court has already set up a monitoring committee which was reviewing the matter and would submit its report to the apex court on the basis of which a final decision would be taken by January 20.

Regarding the controversy over the Egyptian government reportedly getting documents from India stating that the ship had no hazardous substance, the minister said there was no question of giving a no-objection certificate to the ship.

The French government had informed that the ship has no hazardous substance, and if the Egyptian government has received any document then it must have come from the owner, which is the French government, and the Indian company -- Sriram -- which is importing the ship for breaking it.

The ship left France in December for a ship-breaking yard in Gujarat amid protests from the environmental group Greenpeace, which says it contains tons of toxic waste that could harm scrap workers.

According to Additional Secretary Naresh Dayal, all the ships have asbestos in the form of insulating material and it needed to be checked whether the French ship had more asbestos than was permissible.

Asserting that the government was not averse to ship-breaking industry as it was a valuable source of employment and raw material through recycling of steel, Dayal told reporters that the inspection of the breaking site had been conducted to ascertain whether adequate facilities for handling, disposal and storage of hazardous waste were in place or not.