New Delhi, Oct 15: Country's biggest ship-breaking industry at Alang in Gujarat came under the scanner of the supreme court which formulated guidelines for its operation keeping in mind the hazards faced by the workers and their working conditions. The guidelines were formulated yesterday by a bench comprising Justice Y K Sabharwal and Justice B N Agrawal after accepting the recommendations of a High-Powered Committee (HPC) headed by Prof M G K Menon on ship-breaking activities.
The bench said "the ship breaking operation referred to above cannot be permitted to be continued without strictly adhering to all precautionary principles and taking requisite safeguards which have been extensively dealt with in the report of the HPC which include the aspect of the working condition of the workers."
The bench said according to the recommendations of the HPC an inter-ministerial committee comprising ministries of Surface Transport, Steel, Labour and Environment should be constituted with the involvement of labour and environment organisations as well as representatives of ship breaking industries to monitor the matter.
"The major ship breaking activity in India is at Alang in Gujarat, therefore, Gujarat Marine Board and Gujarat State Pollution Control Board (SPCB) have to be alive to the consequences of the appropriate steps to be taken before the breaking activities start," it said.
Bureau Report