Skip to main content

Five killed at Alang shipbreaking yard, but authorities in Gujarat refuse action against past culprits: TWA

During a 2012 accident at Alang
Top environmental group Toxics Watch Alliance (TWA) has quoted "authentic sources" to say that as many as five workers, all of them migrants, were crushed to death at the Alang Shipbreaking Yard, along the beach of Bhavnagar in Gujarat, as a result of an accident at Plot No 20.This is against the official sources who said only two have died in an accident on march 11 late evening. TWA’s Gopal Krishna has reported, “I spoke to the officials in Gujarat and have reliably learnt that a total of 5 workers suffered during the fatal  accident after an iron plate fell on them.” He adds, “Three other workers are also in a critical condition and have been admitted in a private hospital in Bhavnagar by the plot holder.”
The two workers who died were identified as belong to the Ganjam district of Odisha -- Panshu Pradhan Bhaskar Pradhan, 26, and Bishwanath Gulabbhai Gaud, 30. Following the incident, in a letter to Vinod Kumar Thakral, chairman, Inter-Ministerial Committee (IMC) on Shipbreaking, Union Ministry of Steel, and chairman, National Human Rights Commission, TWA said, the accident was “in violation of the 74 page long Code on Regulations for Safe and Environmentally Sound Ship Recycling of Government of India.”
Asking the IMC chairman and the NHRC chairman to ensure that agencies like the Gujarat Maritime Board (GMB), the Gujarat Pollution Control Board, the department of industry and the department of labour of the Gujarat government "ought to be made accountable with exemplary compensation to set matters right", TWA said, "If the Gujarat government was sensitive it would have ensured that no deaths happened." It should have "re-opened the old cases of occupational deaths on the Alang beach to set matters right."
Demanding that the plots which are accident prone be closed with immediate effect, the TWA said, the migrant workers deserve both medical and legal remedy besides just compensation. There were 10 deaths in 2013. The last one last year was on December 6, 2013 after an iron plate fell on a worker's head. "The accident took place on Plot No 2 of the yard located at Alang beach. He was immediately taken to a private hospital at Bhavnagar where he was declared dead. It has not come to light as to what did Gujarat government do to ensure justice to the worker", TWA wondered.
Pointing out that during 2001 to March 2014, there have been some 200 deaths without anyone being made accountable or liable, the TWA said, "The ongoing deaths are of migrant workers from Uttar Pradesh, Bihar, Jharkhand and Odisha on Alang beach, Bhavnagar, but nothing has been done to arrest these preventable deaths."
Signed by Gopal Krishna, the letter by TWA said, “It is quite outrageous that the GMB’s Ship Recycling Regulations, 2006 has not been revised in the light of the Supreme Court's order and the recommendations of court's Inter-Ministerial Committee and the court's Dr Prodipto Ghosh Committee. The compensation regime under the Ship Recycling Regulations, 2006 is outdated and has not been inflation adjusted.”
Quoting the Port Officer, Gopal Krishna said, in case of fatal accident, the permission holder is obliged to pay Rs 1 lakh to the GMB by way of penalty. The amount has to be deposited in the Workers’ Welfare Fund maintained by the GMB. Also, the permission holder would have to pay Rs 2 lakh to the heirs of the deceased person who has lost his life in the accident.
He reminded the authorities the Draft Code's section on miscellaneous and penalty provisions says that "the ship-recycler shall immediately pay a minimum ex-gratia compensation of Rs2 lakh per person or more as decided by the state maritime board or the port authority/ port trust from time to time to the next kin of the deceased, and Rs 50,000 per case or more as may be decided by the board from time to time to the injured victim, over and above the compensation that may be received by the kin from claims under the Workman Compensation Act and Employee State Insurance Scheme (ESIC)."
"This provision has been inhumanly omitted by the GMB due to the tremendous influence of ship-breakers", Gopal Krishna said. "The IMC must revisit this section and consider recommending its inclusion as provided in the Draft Code with more stringent provisions". He added, whatever "monetary compensation" is entitled right now is "hardly sufficient to deal with these ongoing deaths of migrant workers on Gujarat's Alang beach in Bhavnagar".
Pointing towards how evase authorities are about the latest accident, Gopal Krishna said, "I spoke to Mr P D Vyas, Chief Fire Officer, Alang, on March 12, 2014 who stated that there was no fire accident in this case." This calls for "examining reports of criminal prosecution in the present case of March 11, 2014 and in the previous cases", he insisted, adding, "There is an urgent need to issue notices to Government of Gujarat, Government of Odisha, Union Ministry of Labour and Union Ministry of Steel".
Referring to the Supreme Court judgment dated September 6, 2007 in Writ Petition (Civil) no. 657 of 1995, the environmentalist said, the district collector, Bhavnagar "has to ensure that dismantling takes place as per a dismantling in keeping with its directions." But "sources have revealed that in disregard to the court's order so far the district collector has chosen not to be associated with the dismantling process. Such non-compliance is unpardonable but appears routine."

Comments

Post a Comment

TRENDING

Addressing caste discrimination in US higher education: Rutgers report sparks controversy

In a surprise move, an American university has published a "controversial" report titled "Caste-Based Discrimination in US Higher Education and at Rutgers". The report has sparked debate, as no sooner was it released than an Indian diaspora advocacy group, CasteFiles, filed a complaint against Rutgers University and Prof. Audrey Truschke, co-chair of the task force that prepared the report. The complaint, filed under Title VI of the US Civil Rights Act of 1964, alleges violations of the right to education free from harassment and discrimination.
Post a Comment
Read more...

ICT services exports: Despite India's 8% growth rate, China with 19% giving 'stiff competition'

A World Bank report, while praising India, a “middle-income” country driving the surge in internet users across the globe, states that if in 2018, only one in five Indians used the internet, by 2022 there was already “a staggering 170 percent growth in internet users”. But a deeper look in the report suggests two things: One, Indian IT business is facing stiff competition from China, and two, insofar as speed is internet speed is concerned, India has far to go.
Post a Comment
Read more...

Modi govt distancing from Adanis? MoEFCC 'defers' 1500 MW project in Western Ghats

Is the Narendra Modi government, in its third but  what would appear to be a weaker avatar, seeking to show that it would keep a distance, albeit temporarily, from its most favorite business house, the Adanis? It would seem so if the latest move of the Ministry of Environment, Forests and Climate Change (MoEFCC) latest to "defer" the Adani Energy’s application for 1500 MW Warasgaon-Warangi Pump Storage Project is any indication. Quoting the September 27 MoEFCC's Expert Appraisal Committee (EAC) meeting,  released on October 2, a senior scholar-activist of the top environmental advocacy group South Asia Network on Dams, Rivers and People (SANDRP) has  reported  that in a "respite" to forest dwelling communities, fragile biodiversity and community conservation areas, the EAC has "rejected" the Adani application for project. However, the window for continuing with the controversial project hasn't been entirely closed. To quote Parineeta Dandekar, the ...
Post a Comment
Read more...

NHRC failing to 'effectively address' human rights violations: NGO groups tell UN-linked body

In a joint submission to the Global Alliance of National Human Rights Institutions' (GANHRI's) Sub Committee on Accreditation (SCA), two civil society groups -- All India Network of NGOs and Individuals working with National and State Human Rights Institutions (AiNNI) and Asian NGO Network on National Human Rights Institutions (ANNI) --  have said that the  National Human Rights Commission's (NHRC's) accreditation, deferred in  2016, 2023, and 2024, fails to find space on its website. In their submission to the top global body which coordinates the relationship between NHRIs and the United Nations human rights system, AiNNI and ANNI said, the accreditation status of NHRC "has not been updated" since 2017, and as of September 21, 2024, the "website falsely states that the NHRC has retained its 'A' accreditation status from SCA for four consecutive five-year terms." They added, such omission diminishes "civil society's trust" in N...
Post a Comment
Read more...

Two persons with old typewriters off SLC's fashionable street, writing poems on postcards!

A few days back, after taking a round of beautiful hills surrounding Salt Lake City (SLC), we drove down to a popular, somewhat fashionable spot -- Harvey Milk Blvd -- not very far from the Down Town. We visited a few shops, where mainly souvenirs were being sold, and also a few sex toys! Finally, we visited an ice cream parlour, where we tasted Italian ice cream. It is a well decorated parlour, with different coloured lovely goodies  hanging across the restaurant. I took a lemon flavoured ice cream -- really liked it. The parlour is called Dolcetti Gelato. Thereafter, while returning to take the car, we found two persons sitting on outdoor chairs, with old manual typewriters on makeshift tables. They were typing out exactly the same way I used to in 1980s to do my stories before faxing them from Moscow to Patriot office in Delhi.
Post a Comment
Read more...

Will Supreme Court also come forward to end legally-sanctioned segregation on religious lines in Gujarat?

My Vadodara-based activist-friend, Jagdish Patel, who has long championed the cause of the victims of silicosis, a deadly occupational disease, has forwarded to me an interesting blog by the executive editor of Pulitzer Center, Marina Walker Guevara, written in the context of the U.S. election results, in which Donald Trump has won.
Post a Comment
Read more...

When Congress leaders in Gujarat forgot to remember Jawaharlal Nehru on November 14

It was November 14, Jawaharlal Nehru’s 135th birth anniversary. While the national leaders everywhere – ranging from Congress’ bigwigs to Narendra Modi and Rajnath Singh – paid their tributes to the India’s first Prime Minister who also happened to be one of the most important freedom fighters, I was a little surprised: The Congress leaders in my state, Gujarat, seemed to ignore him at the place where mediapersons were called to interact with them.
Post a Comment
Read more...