As and when it reaches Alang in Gujarat’s Bhavnagar district, Clemenceau will be the first ship in the yard’s history to arrive decontaminated in keeping with the Basel Convention that governs transboundary movement of hazardous waste.

The nod from the pollution control board authorities came last week after a monitoring committee appointed by the Supreme Court inspected the facilities at a plot owned by ship-breaker Mukesh Patel.

The Centre had in February directed Customs, pollution control boards and Gujarat Maritime Board not to allow the old warship to be broken without prior permission.

Greenpeace alarm had also ensured that the ship was turned away by Greece, Turkey and Spain before Patel bid for it.

‘‘I have been waiting for it for the last eight months,’’ Patel said on Tuesday. ‘‘The ship-breaker should be awarded for bringing in the first environment friendly ship,’’he said, taking a dig at Greenpeace and other NGOs and accusing them of harassing ship-breakers and governments around the world. Sources said the monitoring committee’s No Objection Certificate followed after it made the shipbreaker demonstrate his capacity to break the ship in keeping with the guidelines set by the apex court two years ago.

‘‘The ship will have 99 per cent toxic material removed from it but the committee wanted to ensure that remaining hazardous material is disposed of in a proper manner,’’ a GPCB member who accompanied the Central team said.

Though it’s not clear when the ship will actually land, there are indications that its troubled journey is far from over. A French court had rejected a suit seeking a ban on what it called the illegal export of the ship.

While most of the asbestos on board the ship had been removed by experts appointed by the French Government, environmentalists quoting workers who had built the ship said it contained more toxic material like polychlorinated biphenyls (PCBs) and tributylin (TBT).

Ramapathy Kumar of Greenpeace said though the ship had been nearly stripped of asbestos, activists were fighting to ensure that other pollutants like PCBs and TBT are removed before it is allowed to leave for Alang. He maintained that a French court was hearing an appeal against a lower court’s ruling that rejected the environmentalists’ plea.

The ship has been ridden with controversy since 1997 when it was decommissioned after 35 years of service. First the French Government cancelled the contract to a Spanish company in 2003 for violating a contractual obligation. Later, two countries refused it permission to break.

Patel and the pollution control board authorities, however, said all the legal hurdles had been removed. According to Patel, the ship may take upto two months and monsoon might make landing difficult. It’s difficult to estimate losses as Patel will pay for the ship only after it lands and the price depends on fluctuations in the Indian and international markets.