Greenpeace campaign against Clemenceau
by Maya Singh

     New Delhi: Environmental group Greenpeace has launched a postcard signature campaign to compel Indian authorities to stop a decommissioned French warship from entering India. The aircraft carrier, Clemenceau, left France in December for Alang, the world's largest ship scrapyard at Gujarat, despite protests from Greenpeace, which says the ship contains tonnes of toxic waste that could harm the scrap workers. Dubbed as a "toxic ship" the Clemenceau has been allowed by Egyptian authorities to cross the Suez Canal on Sunday despite protests by the environment watchdog saying, the warship posed no environmental threat to Egypt. An official from the Suez Canal Authority, which gives approval for ships to pass, said the ship would be allowed to proceed after a routine technical check.

    The Egyptian statement said the Indian authorities had agreed to receive the ship for scrapping. But Greenpeace says the 27,000-tonne Clemenceau is fitted with hundreds of tons of hazardous materials, including 500 tones of asbestos, which could pose a severe health risk to scrapyard workers. Greenpeace says thousands of workers in the ship-breaking industry in Asian countries have died in the last two decades in accidents or through exposure to toxic waste. Greenpeace has slammed the Indian Government for ignoring the plight of impoverished shipyard workers and is now collecting thousands of signatures across cities in India to support their campaign. "We are collecting public opinion to tell our environment minister that he needs to do his job. His job is basically to protect the environment and people of India from pollution. He must stop the ship from coming to India immediately. France was supposed to decontaminate the ship before they sent it. They have lied about the toxic waste on board the ship. India is a big country, and people here feel that we need to stand up to the first world and tell them that we are not dustbins," Vinuta, a Greenpeace campaigner said.

   However, Alang ship-breaking yard officials feel that India needs to fulfill the contract, as it battles a downturn in business amid competition from rivals in Bangladesh, China and elsewhere. A panel appointed by the Supreme Court had earlier this week recommended that the vessel not be allowed to enter India because of the toxic waste that it contained. Earlier, Greenpeace had fought a court battle in France and is vowing to fight one in India to force the exit of the Clemenceau before it arrives on the Indian coast. The French authorities have said that the most dangerous work of removing 115 tonnes of brittle asbestos has been done in France and the remaining amount has to be kept in place to keep Clemenceau seaworthy on its final journey to India. According to the French government, the vessel is carrying 45 tonnes of asbestos insulation. According to the firm that helped partially decontaminate it before the trip, the amount is between 500 and 1,000 tonnes.

   Alang, located on a remote stretch of coast nearly 200 kilometers (160 miles) northwest of Mumbai, was once just one of many featureless poor villages, and is still too tiny to be marked on many maps. But its destiny changed after authorities noted it had high tides that can rise as much as 10 meters (33 feet), combined with gently sloping shores. In 1983, the state-run Gujarat Maritime Board opened a ship-breaking yard for what those in the industry call "end of life" ships - condemned freighters, tankers, warships, fishing and cruise boats. Its strong tides and tapering beach mean there is no need for costly dry docks along the yard's 10-kilometre (six mile) strip of coastline. Titanic-sized vessels can be floated ashore where they are cut up by workers who are often exposed to deadly toxins in the process. Greenpeace says one out of four workers in Alang is expected to contract cancer from workplace poisons. Dozens of workers have died on the job since the yard opened, many from exploding gases and falling steel plates and other objects. For major industrialised nations, safety and environmental laws make ship-breaking work hugely costly. But in Third World nations, lax enforcement of safety and environmental rules, and a vast supply of cheap labour, can make ship-breaking a profitable proposition.

Clemenceau not to be allowed to reach Indian before Feb 13

    New Delhi: The asbestos laden French warship Le Clemenceau which reportedly has not been cleared of toxic asbestos will not be permitted to enter Indian waters before February 13, the date fixed by Supreme Court for the next hearing. This decision came after Ship Decommissioning Industry Corporation (SDIC), the company which is bringing the 'hazardous' ship to India gave an undertaking to the court that they will not bring Clemenceau within 220 nautical miles from the Indian shore which forms the "exclusive Economic Zone" (EEZ), without the Court's consent. The Supreme Court bench comprising of Justice Arijit Pasayat and Justice S H Kapadia also directed the Customs Department to tell the court about their stand regarding Clemenceaus entry.

   Hearing on the petition filed by the Research Foundation for Science, the matter was adjourned till February 13 when the final findings of the report by the special Committee on hazardous waste management will be submitted to the apex court. The next meeting of the committee is scheduled to take place on January 20. The Supreme Court appointed Committee had earlier in its preliminary report recommended that the decommissioned French Clemenceau should not be allowed to enter India's EEZ since it will be a violation of the provisions of the Basel Convention. Apart from this, the Committee in its report had also stated that there are contradictory reports regarding the amount of asbestos present in Clemenceau. The Committee raised doubts about the decontamination of the ship as claimed by French authorities, since they have not yet received any statement of declaration from the French side in this regard. Meanwhile, Clemenceau has received the requisite clearance from the Egyptian Authorities to pass the Suez Canal. The Egyptian official said that "Since the ship does not represent an environmental danger to Egypt, the vessel would be allowed to proceed after a routine technical check." The decommissioned Clemenceau ship, heading for Alang scrap yards in Gujarat, is facing criticism from the environmentalist, particularly Greenpeace activists, for being hazardous as it contains large amount of cancer causing asbestos.

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