Gujarat keen to scrap 'toxic' Clemenceau

    Ahmedabad: As the Supreme Court Monitoring Committee sits down on Friday to hear the final deposition of all parties involved in the Le Clemenceau episode, the Gujarat Maritime Board (GMB) has asked French authorities to provide it with technical experts to "help in the scrapping" of the hazardous decommissioned warship at Alang. HK Dash, Vice Chairman and CEO of GMB, told the reporters that "we have asked the Ship Decontaminating Industry Corporation of France to provide us with technical experts for training workers on how to remove the asbestos from Clemenceau." Emphasizing his desire to see Le Clemenceau scrapped at Alang, Asia's largest ship scrapyard, he added that "there was no need to be concerned over any environmental issues." Recently, a French diplomatic team had met GMB board members to convince them that the asbestos present on the ship is within permissible limits. The French team included- Counsellor Stephen Catta, Deputy Trade Commissioner Fredric Rossi from the French mission in Mumbai, and Commander Pierre Delbrel, the Naval Attachi at the French Embassy in New Delhi. The group was able to convince the GMB that "reports of high asbestos content on the ship Clemenceau were misleading since 150 tonnes of asbestos had already been removed from the ship and it now contains only 40 tonnes." However, Dash said that the GMB will come into the picture only when the apex court gives final clearance. "We will give beaching permission for the aircraft carrier Clemenceau only after we get the necessary clearance from the Gujarat Pollution Control Board, the apex court and other authorities," Dash said.

    Meanwhile, in New Delhi the Supreme Court monitoring committee on hazardous waste management is sitting today to hear the final deposition of all the parties to the controversy surrounding the Clemenceau scrapping at Alang in Gujarat. The committee has made the French embassy, the Ship Decommissioning Industries (SDI)-company involved in bringing Clemenceau to India, the Gujarat Maritime Board, Greenpeace and Ban Asbestos Network of France parties to the case. The Supreme Court appointed Committee had earlier in its preliminary report 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 transboundary movement of hazardous wastes apart from promoting environmentally sound management of hazardous wastes. The Supreme Court bench hearing on the petition filed by the Research Foundation for Science on January 16, had adjourned the matter till February 13, when the final findings of the report by the special committee would be submitted to the apex court.

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