The High Court has given permission to resume import of ships for scrapping.
The bench of justices A H M Shamsuddin Chowdhury and Sheikh Mohammad Zakir Hossain gave the directives on Monday following a petition filed by Ship Breakers Association.
Along side its permission for import, the court also spelled out some requirements, saying the authorities concerned should finalise the ship breaking regulations.
It further directed to bring in all machineries required for tearing down ships, compulsory two-and-half-month workers' training (15 days of theoretical training and two months of practical training) funded by the ShipBreakers Association, besides providing the workers with adequate safety gear.
The judges also barred employing any workers aged below 18 years and ordered the yards to make landfill sites for safely destroying the wastes. They also made it compulsory for each yard to employ at least one marine engineer to overview the dismantling.
The High Court also ordered the association to make a list of all workers employed in this sector and give copies to the labour ministry and environment department labour inspector.
Rokonuddin Mahmud and Anisul Haque argued for the petitioners, while Syeda Rizwana Hasan represented the Bangladesh Environmental Lawyers' Association (BELA).
On Jan 19, the High Court in a suo motu ruling barred ship breaking until further directives.
The ruling came after an article, published in a national daily on Jan 19 regarding the death of four workers in an accident at MAK Corporation on Jan 18, was brought to its attention.
On Dec 15, the court had imposed a ban on importing ships until regulations were formulated.
Source: bdnews24. Tuesday, Mar 8th, 2011
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