The stand taken by Greenpeace and BAN follows a recent decision by the Supreme Court Monitoring Committee (SCMC) to allow Danish ship Riky to be beached and broken at the Alang shipbreaking yard in Bhavnagar.

The Danish government had requested India to return the vessel as it was hazardous waste under the Basel Convention - the international treaty that governs transboundary movement of hazardous waste and their disposal - and had come to India by giving Danish authorities a slip.

"In the absence of political will, we cannot force the shipping industry to clean up their act. The SCMC's reversal of its earlier stance on Riky has exposed that no one, not even a Supreme Court appointed authority, is free of pressure from vested interests,'' said Ramapati Kumar of Greenpeace.

''If Indian authorities cannot stand by their commitment to international convention and national laws, and instead encourage toxic trade, it is inevitable that the industry will suffer the consequences,'' he further said.

The environment watchdog claimed India had publicly stated last week at a meeting in Geneva that it had no intention of adhering to the Basel Convention guidelines on environmentally sound ship dismantling. The guidelines call for, among other things, a no-spill technology to be used as of 2008.

Greenpeace said India had helped negotiate these guidelines that were adopted in 2003. In a convention with 165 parties, India was the only country to hold the position that deems a ship is not a waste under the convention and therefore not subject to all of the control procedures and obligations of the convention.

The organisation charged the government with failing to safeguard labour interests by not implementing basic rules and regulations. ''Workers lose life and limb for the sake of a mere Rs 50 a day," PK Ganguly of Centre of India Trade Unions said.

There was absolutely no political will to protect the environment and labour rights and moreover, the government was open in its support to the ship-breaking industry.

The Danish connection

RIKY, the Danish ship that landed clandestinely at Alang nearly three months ago, is yet to get the final permission for breaking. The SCMC allowed the Gujarat Pollution Control Board to permit the ship to be broken under supervision of GPCB and Central Pollution Control Board officials. Bhavnagar-based regional officer of GPCB Y A Tai said the shipbreaker was yet to submit a clearance certificate from Customs. ''We will verify the ship again before giving the permission,'' he said.