Green Court Takes Cognisance of Workers’ Issues in Ship-breaking Yard, Orders Remedial Measures

New Delhi: Taking cognisance of poor working conditions of manual labourers and the environment in general at Alang ship-breaking facility in Gujarat, the National Green Tribunal issued an order on Friday, November 27, directing for the formation of an expert panel to recommend ameliorative measures. These recommendations will be included in the list of terms and conditions of the Environmental Clearance that has been granted to Gujarat Maritime Board for expanding the existing ship breaking facility.

The tribunal has also directed for the upgradation of yards at the facility and regular monitoring of the coastal zone area to assess adverse impact on the environment from ship-breaking activities. It has directed the Union Ministry of Environment, Forests & Climate Change (MoEF&CC) to monitor compliance with these directions twice every year.

The directions were issued by the tribunal while disposing off an application filed by a Mumbai-based non-profit organiSation, Conservation Action Trust, challenging the Environmental Clearance and Coastal Regulation Zone (CRZ) clearance granted for the expansion project. The primary contention of the petitioner was that the ‘beaching method’ of ship-breaking, which is being followed at the Alang facility, is unsafe and hazardous for environment and marine biodiversity.

A four-judge bench of the tribunal – Chairperson Justice Adarsh Kumar Goel, Justice Sheo Kumar Singh and Expert Members Satyawan Singh Garbyal and Nagin Nanda – found no merit, however, in the contention that run offs from ship-breaking activities in Alang over the past around 40 years has been polluting the environment of the region. However, the bench stated that there exists the need to periodically monitor the coastal ecology of the region to examine impacts of ship-breaking activities.

“While we are in agreement with the broad conclusions in the [MoEF&CC-commissioned] report that there is no serious adverse impact on the environment by the project, we are of the opinion that there is a scope for improvement of environment and public health in general and the health and welfare of the workers. This aspect may be independently considered by the MoEF&CC by appointing a five members Committee of domain experts, including from the Institute of Occupational Health, Ministry of Health, and Ministry of Labour. Such a Committee may be constituted within one month which may give its report within six months. The project proponent [Gujarat Maritime Board] may take action on such recommendations which will be treated as a condition for the EC [Environmental Clearance],” the bench has stated in the judgement.

Also read: The Horrendous Human Cost of Bangladesh’s Ship Breaking Industry

The MoEF&CC-commissioned study, cited in the judgement, had been conducted through the National Institute of Oceanography (NIO) of the Council of Scientific and Industrial Research (CSIR) following a direction of the green tribunal last year. This study, submitted to the tribunal in July 2020, had been conducted to examine allegations by the petitioner that adverse impacts of the employment of the most unscientific method of ship-breaking, that is, the beaching method, has polluted marine environment and aquatic biodiversity along the Alang-Sosiya coast in Gujarat.

“The Committee may inter-alia suggest remedial action with reference to the conclusion in the CSIR-NIO report that the living area of most of the workers is poor and the residential accommodation is insufficient,” added the bench in its 52-page judgement.

The ship-breaking facility has been in existence in Bhavnagar district of Gujarat since 1982. The facility, where over 8,000 vessels of different categories have been dismantled till date through the ‘beaching’ method, had been operational much before the Coastal Regulation Zone (CRZ) notification was issued for the first time in the year 1991.

In its report, the MoEF&CC had stated the presence of high levels of heavy metals including chromium, manganese, iron, cobalt, nickel, copper, zinc, arsenic, cadmium and lead in the onshore and near shore water samples near the ship-breaking facility. However, the report concluded that “the impact of ship-breaking activities on the marine environment is not significant”.

Presence of heavy metals, including chromium, copper, nickel and zinc were also found in sediment samples apart from toxic elements like arsenic, mercury and lead. The petitioner had rebutted the report saying that water samples were never tested during the MoEF&CC study for the presence of mercury which is a major run-off from ship-breaking activities.

The tribunal also found no merit in the contention of the petitioner that ship-breaking activity is not permissible in a zone categorised as CRZ I (B), an intertidal area. The study conducted by the MoEF&CC, as well as the Environmental Clearance letter issued in November 2016, had stated that the entire ship-breaking activity in Alang is being conducted in zones categorised as CRZ I (B), CRZ III and CRZ-IV, and that the major activities happen in CRZ I (B) area.

In order to arrive at its conclusions, the tribunal bench relied upon the observations of Supreme Court in a judgement issued in the year 2007, considering the permissibility of breaking down a French ship named ‘Lady Blue’ at the Alang shipyard. The apex court had permitted the breaking of the French ship at Alang after considering all associated issues.

The existing facility at Alang comprises 167 recycling plots on a 10-km stretch between Alang and Sosiya villages. These plots have been leased out to private players by the facility’s operator Gujarat Maritime Board. The expansion would involve addition of 15 new plots, two dry docks for pre-cleaning of ships before dismantling, a waste oil treatment system and an incinerator. The estimated cost of the expansion project at the time that it was envisaged stood at Rs 1,630 crore.

Also read: Yet Another Report Exposes the Death Trap that is Bangladesh’s Ship Breaking Industry

“Many yards are to be upgraded to curtail pollution and to enhance security. Further recommendation that upgradation of recycling yards is required and there has to be periodic monitoring of the coastal ecology every year, including marine biodiversity and bioaccumulation of metals in the marine organisms of Alang, needs to be followed up. Any adverse impact on the coastal ecology including subtidal and intertidal should be brought in to the notice of concerned authority so as to take appropriate measures for future care of this region,” the order further stated.

Ship-breaking, which is widely considered as a highly polluting and environmentally hazardous activity, is no longer carried out by developed countries. Moreover, the ‘beaching’ method of ship-breaking, which is only possible in an inter-tidal area, is hardly extant with only a few countries like India, Pakistan and Bangladesh allowing the industrial activity along their shores.

The environmental clearance to the expansion project had been challenged in the green tribunal by Conservation Action Trust on the basis of the fact that assessment of the environmental impacts of the beaching method of ship-breaking was never considered during the mandatory Environment Impact Assessment (EIA) process.

The Conservation Action Trust had further pulled up the project proponent, Gujarat Maritime Board, for failing to conduct a proper social impact assessment of the expansion project. The petition of the trust alleged that no baseline monitoring of pollutants was conducted prior to granting the clearances nor potential social and environmental impacts studied. It was also alleged that even a proper public hearing was not conducted during the EIA process.

It was on the basis of the above-mentioned facts brought to light by the Conservation Action Trust that the green tribunal had ordered the MoEF&CC to conduct an environmental impact study.

“The most unsafe method of ship-breaking, that is, the ‘beaching’ method is used at the existing facility in Alang because it is the cheapest in terms of costs. Discarded ships are pulled into the beach during high tide and then broken down when the tide ebbs. Materials that can be salvaged from the wrecks are recovered while a lot of toxic waste flows back into the sea contaminating the water and polluting marine biodiversity,” said Debi Goenka, Executive Trustee of the Conservation Action Trust, noting that it is indeed a matter of concern that the most hazardous method of ship-breaking is being chosen despite the availability of several alternatives.”

The writer is an independent journalist.