Parliamentary Committee Takes Cognisance of Dumping of Toxic Ships

New Delhi July 20, 2012: Parliamentary Committee Takes Cognisance of Dumping of Toxic Ships, Supreme Court to hear ex US ship case on July 23,Ex US ship Exxon Valdez violates July 6 judgment, several such US ships waiting to be dumped>Supreme CourtⳠbench of Justice Altamas Kabir and Justice J. Chelameswar will hear the matter of violation of UNⳠBasel Convention on the Control of Transboundary Movements of Hazardous Wastes and Their Disposal and courtⳠMay 3, 2012 order and July 6, 2012 judgment by ex US Ship Exxon Valdez (currently named MV Oriental N) on July 23, 2012. Sanjay Parikh, advocate appearing for I.A No. 62 argued that CourtⳠjudgment of July 6, 2012 has been violated by the ship in question. The judgment reads:ㅴhe question of ship breaking and distribution of hazardous wastes are being considered separately in the contempt proceedings, in these proceedings we expect and eiterate that the directions contained in the BASEL Convention have to be strictly followed by all the concerned players, before a vessel is allowed to enter Indian territorial waters and beach at any of the beaching facilities in any part of the Indian coast-line. In case of breach of the conditions, the authorities shall impose the penalties contemplated under the municipal laws of India.䠠 >Parliamentary Committee on Transport headed by Sitaram Yechury is seized with the matter of shipbreaking. It will meet on July 26, 2012. It examined the matter in its earlier sitting. Parliamentary Committee on Coal & Steel headed by Kalyan Banerjee which examines Functioning of Metal Scrap Trading in India is also scheduled to hear the ship breaking matter on August 6, 2012. Ministry of Steel which is the focal point of Inter-ministerial committee (IMC) on ship-breaking is preparing to make its submissions amidst wide spread security concerns emerging from end-of-life vessels entering Indian waters on fake flags. More than 150 hazardous dead ships have entered Indian waters this year.In such a backdrop, the reply and submissions filed by the applicant on July 17, 2012 assumes significance. The submission is attached.Key submissions in the application are as follows:As per the order dated 03.05.2012 and the judgment dated 06.07.2012 Basel Convention applies. In the first order dated 14.01.2003, which was coated with approval and the subsequent order dated 06.09.2007, prior decontamination by the Country of export is required before Ship can be allowed entry in the territorial waters. The prior inform consent procedure is required to be followed. Trans-boundary movement of any hazardous waste from developed country to developing country must be with all transparency and previous consent.Non-compliance with the recommendations of the Hon'ble Court constituted Inter-ministerial committee (IMC) on ship-breaking under Union Steel Ministry constitutes violation of CourtⳠorder by concerned agencies.The exporting country must send the documents to the country of import for examination and verification of the inventory. The procedure which is followed today is that the Ship Owner produces the inventory after arrival in the territorial waters. It has become virtually a trade in dumping without any reciprocal obligation of the country involved in such trans- boundary movement. This is against all environmental law and principles.It is noteworthy that the end-of life vessel is a hazardous waste. The end-of-life ships are laden with asbestos, PCBs and heavy metals. These ᦬oating wastes⠡re being dumped in India.It is for US Maritime Administration (US MARAD), US Environmental Protection Agency (USEPA) and the ship owner in question to disclose the original inventory of hazardous and radioactive materials on board the vessel, ex Exxon Valdez. The MoEF is the nodal Ministry to verify this inventory in advance and grant prior inform consent. The said inventory has to be rechecked by the Central Pollution Control Board, GPCB, Customs and Gujarat Maritime Board. In the absence of required laboratory facility how can visual inspection alone verify presence or absence of PCBs and other hazardous substances. The entry permission, anchoring permission and inspection has been granted in violation of Supreme Court order of May 3, 2012, which stands confirmed in the final order dated July 6, 2012.The permission for anchoring has been granted even without looking at inventory submitted by the Ship for the purpose of verification. The documents show the casual manner in which every ship is allowed to enter territorial waters and beached and that none of the Authorities are concerned about the environment and human health. There is a need to pierce the corporate veil by examining the current and past ownership documents of this end-of-life vessel to ascertain its past and future liabilities. Industrialized countries like USA should not be allowed to dump their junk into the developing countries like India on the account of easy availability of vulnerable and disposable workforce and alien coastal ecosystem. The eagerness to profit from one of the world's dirtiest industries, the dismantling of toxic ships by migrant and casual workers from Uttar Pradesh, Jharkhand, Bihar and Odisha at Alang beach is fraught with disastrous environmental and occupational health consequences.In such a situation, there is a compelling reason for this ex- US ship to be sent away from the Indian waters. It is trying to repeat the story of another dubious dead US ship Platinum II (ex SS Independence, MV Oceanic) to set a bad a precedent to ensure that it paves the way for hundreds of dead toxic US ships waiting to be dumped in Indian waters. For Details: Gopal Krishna, ToxicsWatch Alliance (TWA), Mb: 9818089660,