Alang, The Story of World’s Largest Ship-breaking industry in Gujarat

Situated at the shores of Gujarat about 50 km from the city of Bhavnagar, stands the world’s largest ship–breaking industry in Alang. A graveyard for around 450 ships annually who find their way to its shores after being deemed unfit for any future use, Alang startles the world with its capacity to not only host the bustle at such a large scale but also with the pleasing worth it has generated in the process. The yard, since it became operational in 1983 has been growing every year and is estimated to generate a good ?6,000 crores. Started as an initiative by the state government for generating employment to a large number of unskilled work-force, it now employs not only the local population but has attracted over the years cheap labor from around the country; majority of them being from Odisha, Uttar Pradesh, Bihar, Jharkhand and West Bengal.

Ship-breaking is a process that involves breaking down and dismantling the discarded vessel by removing all gears and equipments, cutting down of the vessel into small parts and recycling it. This activity, prior to 1983, was hosted by the select shipyards of Taiwan, Mexico, Spain, Brazil and Great Britain. Owing to the high cost of labor in developed countries coupled with their stringent environmental norms and human rights issues, these countries have found it profitable to get their hands off the waste at a highly inexpensive price by disposing their discarded vessels at the shores of Alang.

India as a result becomes the cream of the crop in ship-breaking industries globally, for its minimal norms on paper and their meagre implementation. It is followed by Pakistan and Bangladesh who remain weak solely due to their size.

Alang holds around 173 plots to carry out the recycling and dismantling activity providing employment to around 30,000 unorganised jobs directly in Alang and thousand others are provided employment opportunities indirectly in allied industries.

Nonetheless, the city pays a heavy price for its good fortune. The structural complexity of the ships together with the safety concerns, environmental and health issues makes the industry an eyebrow raiser. The exposure of workers to harmful chemicals and disposal of substances like asbestos, polychlorinated biphenyls, lead, mercury and chlorofluorocarbons in the environment makes the industry a dangerous one for work. In addition, regular cases of oil spilling into the water have led to contaminating the marine ecology around the area. The workers have to struggle to even get access to the basic facilities such as water, toilet, shelter, sanitation, electricity, proper drainage systems. The migrant workers cannot avail any government schemes implemented for the local village people in and around the ship-breaking yards.

A 2014 study commissioned by the National Human Rights Commission found that there have been 470 “reported” deaths between 1983 and 2013. In December last year, another worker died as a result of the fire that broke out in tankers that were being dismantled in the yard.

In this connection, it is important to mention that the Final Report of the Supreme Court-appointed Technical Experts Committee has revealed the pathetic situation faced by these workers:

The average annual incidence of fatal accidents in the ship breaking industry is 2.0 per 1,000 workers while the all India incidence of fatal accidents during the same period in the mining industry, which is considered to be the most accident-prone industry, is 0.34 per 1,000 workers.

These facts provide the first official confirmation of Alang’s long-standing notoriety as a hazardous and highly unsafe industry violating human rights.

India has often overlooked the environmental norms for the purpose of expanding its economic participations. These lax norms and their improper implication coupled by beauracratic delays, corruption and unethical practices have together woven the sad story of Alang.

A study of the journey of the ship named “Blue-Lady” to the ports of Alang (2006) provides useful insight to how far such concerns have come into conflict with economic objectives and how strong is India’s stands as a watchdog for social and environmental concerns.

A year ago, the same ship was denied entry into Bangladesh because of the hazardous waste it contained by the country’s government. It faced a similar order by the Supreme Court of India when it first attempted entry into Indian waters but was allowed to be ported on humanitarian ground with the onset of monsoon. After about 25 days of it being anchored, it was beached at Alang violating the order of the Supreme Court. During this period it was sold to a ship breaking industry based in Alang to avoid the obligation of decontamination of the ships before being sent for scrapping and against the orders of Supreme Court.

Had the owners of the ship decontaminated the vessel prior to dismantling in Germany itself as under the Basel Convention, it would have cost them an enormous some of about 30 million Euros. In an attempt to override this cost, the ship was sold to Bridgend Shipping for an obscene amount of $ 10 with of course, the real price being paid off the record. It is estimated that the controversial ship contained about 1,700 tonnes of asbestos, which comprises of radioactive material-Americium 241. If inhaled or ingested the same can remain in human body for decades and pose a potential threat of cancer to the workers working around the ship.

Alang, now an official storage facility for radioactive elements, toxic wastes, poisonous gases, and unsualble oil screams toheard among the shouts of development. For a country looking for its rightful place in the 21st century, Alang’s notoriety is certainly at odds. It is a grim reminder of the country’s difficult past and present realities amidst the score for development.

The Ship-Breaking activity flourishes in India due to weak environmental laws. Viewing this as an opportunity of progress and economic gains would be short sighted. India, apart from aiming for meeting the global standards needs top recall at its environmental norms and its value of human life. To frame economic policies by not considering the welfare interests and focusing only of trade gains will do more harm than good.