Danish ship should go back, says SC panel
by Express News Service
27 May 2005 (Ahmedabad) – Taking a stern view of the beaching of Danish ship Riky, the Supreme Court Monitoring Committee (SCMC) on hazardous waste has recommended that the ship be driven out of Indian waters, and an inquiry by a central agency instituted to identify those responsible for its illegal entry.
SCMC chairman G Thyagarajan stated this in an e-mail on May 21 to Gujarat Pollution Control Board (GPCB) chairman K V Bhanujan who sought the committee's guidance on the fate of the ship lying at Alang since April 19.
The ship was given permission to beach despite an alert by the Danish environment minister that the ship--originally named Kong Fredrik IX--contained toxic material and fled the Denmark waters. The Danish minister had requested her Indian counterpart A Raja to send the ship back.
However, a team of Gujarat Maritime Board (GMB), GPCB and Central Pollution Control Board (CPCB) inspected the ship and gave it a clean chit but did not give the ship the permission to break.
Bhanujan, who is also a member of SCMC, wrote to committee chairman Thyagarajan on May 21 seeking his guidance. In his reply, the chairman said: "We take a serious and alarming view of the ship as fait accompli, which could have far-reaching and adverse implications to India's environmental care and concerns and international image." Bhanujan was out of town and could not be contacted.
Thyagarajan said the ship's changing its name clearly demonstrated its intention to cheat and its arrival was in gross violation of the Supreme Court directives on ship-breaking.
He said the ship should not have been allowed to enter Indian waters at all as the letter from the Danish minister had cautioned India loudly and clearly. "If the ship is considered hazardous by Denmark, the Basel Convention requires India also to treat it as such. I am surprised that an illegal arrival is being treated as acceptable for ship-breaking when it has not been earlier decontaminated to remove asbestos, waste oils, paint chips and other hazardous materials," he said adding, "This will set a wrong precedent and encourage not only more such wicked incidents but defeat the very purpose of the apex court's directives on ship-breaking."
Thyagarajan marked the copy of his reply to all SCMC members saying, "I am sure you will agree with me that Riky must be mercilessly driven out of Indian sovereign territory without any further loss of time."
The ship should go back to its source country, get decontaminated and thereafter, and only thereafter, seek to return observing all the rules and regulations of the Basel Convention as well as applicable rules of the Government of India, he said.
He has also marked a copy of his reply to Supreme Court lawyer Sanjay Parikh, who had sought the committee's intervention in the matter.
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