France ready to take back waste of toxic ship

    Bhavnagar (Gujarat): French envoy to India Dominique Girard said on Wednesday that France would take back toxic waste removed from the decommissioned carrier Clemenceau if the Supreme Court allowed the ship to be scrapped in an Indian shipyard. Girard, who visited Alang today, said that they were committed to abide by all the provisions under Indian law. "We have committed ourselves to respecting all the legal provisions you with international or national ours and Indian law. We will respect the Indian courts' decision and we will abide by the law. Whatever is decided will be in cognizance and of the Indian authorities and Indian law and the Indian court. How could our image be tarnished? It (the ship breaking industry) is available, it is there for use. We are proposing to use it," he told reporters in Bhavnagar, 50 kilometers (30 miles) east of Alang.

    Girard, however, clarified that there was nothing dubious in the decommissioning and hoped that it would be in the best interest of the Indian workers and the industry. "Either we have he green light or we don't But I think there is nothing wrong or nothing viscous about that. If Clemenceau comes here and is dismantled in Alang, it will be setting conditions that will be fixed actually for the Indian workers of the scrapping industry. And it could open an era in the sense because the standards will be fixed and will never be changed. It will be never possible to go back on the setting of these new standards. It will be for the best interest of the Indian workers of the environment and ultimately of the industry," he added. The Supreme Court is expected to decide on February 13 whether to allow the carrier to be scrapped in India. An Indian environment panel, which was to report to the Supreme Court this week on the Clemenceau, was unable to make a firm recommendation and would be submitting two reports to the court, reflecting sharp divisions in the body.

    Environmental groups like Greenpeace have opposed the entry of Clemenceau to the Alang scrapping yard in Gujarat, saying it contains hundreds of tonnes of toxic materials which pose a risk to workers. The French government, however, has been maintaining that Clemenceau contains only a fraction of that amount. Some of shipyard workers told Reuters that they wanted the Clemenceau to be dismantled in Alang, a congested and smoky town of 150,000 people and dozens of private ship-scrapping yards. Activists of Shiv Sena party shouted slogans "Go Back Greenpeace!" and "Welcome Clemenceau" in Alang as Girard entered a shipyard in the town. Local environmentalists said pro-Clemenceau demonstrations were stage-managed by shipyard owners. The shipyards, spread out along a 10-km (six miles) stretch on western coast, feed off cheap labour from some of country's poorest states, but jobs are threatened as ship owners -- faced with India's rising awareness of environmental laws -- opt for cheaper deals in neighbouring Pakistan and Bangladesh. The 27,000-tonne Clemenceau -- which served in the 1991 Gulf war - left France in December for Alang, sparking protests from environmental groups. Greenpeace says Clemenceau is laden with 500 tonnes of toxic asbestos as well as polychlorinated biphenyls, which are more difficult to remove than asbestos and can cause cancer. "The export of the Clemenceau from France to India is illegal and immoral," Greenpeace said in a statement, adding that "It is scandalous that the French government continues to presume that Indians will want their waste when they give us their technology as well." The group said it doubted that facilities in Alang could have improved overnight to deal with hazardous wastes. "We also doubt very much the capacity of His Excellency, the Ambassador of France, to carry out a technical evaluation about ship breaking facilities," it said. The French authorities say that the most dangerous work of removing 115 tonnes of brittle asbestos from Clemenceau had been done and the remaining estimated 45 tonnes of asbestos left was needed to keep the ship seaworthy until it was broken up.

    Meanwhile, wondering as to why the French Government did not take Clemenceau back and end its agony, SCMC committee chairman Dr G Thyagarajan said, "The ship, which has done so much service for the country ... Why should it go through all this humiliation?" Following strong protests by environmentalists both in India and in France over allowing Clemenceau to dock at Alang to be dismantled, the Supreme Court had fixed February 13 for hearing the matter after recording an assurance given by the Shipping Decommissioning Industry Corporation (SDIC), a Panama registered company. The company had assured it would not permit Clemenceau to enter the Indian Exclusive Economic Zone (220 nautical miles) till the court took a decision on the basis of the SCMC report. The French Government claims that there is only 45 tonnes of asbestos left on board, not removable till dismantling since it is part of the ship's structure. The SCMC earlier in its preliminary report had recommended that the Clemenceau should not be allowed to enter India's Exclusive Economic Zone since it would amount to violation of the provisions of the Basel Convention. The Basel Convention a global treaty initiated by the United Nations Environment Programme, basically aims at controlling the trans-boundary movement of hazardous wastes apart from promoting environmentally sound management of hazardous wastes. On January 9, the Supreme Court had forbidden Clemenceau to enter Indian waters as most of its directions issued almost a year ago had gone unheeded.

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