The ministry of industries said on Sunday that it
would make by December 14 a new set of rules to make the shipbreaking and ship
recycling industry green and eco-friendly.
A High Court order requires the ministry to make
the rules ready by the deadline, industries minister Dilip Barua told the stake
holders at a discussion at a city hotel.
The ministry secretary KH Masud Siddique chaired
the session attended by ship breakers and all the other stake holders.
The High Court had earlier ordered the secretary of
the industries ministry to appear before it with a copy of gazetted copy of the
new set of rules.
The new set of rules would require the shipbreaking
and re-cycling industry to ensure
occupational safety and health of workers, risk management, eco-friendly
management of wastes.
The rules would stipulate fines and compensations
for violations.
The court order also requires the ministry to
establish a ‘Ship Building and Ship Recycling Board’ comprising
representatives from other ministries and departments to provide ‘One Stop
Service’ to the industry.
Shipbreakers described the conditions,
fines and compensation stipulated in the new set of rules for violations as
attempt to stifle or shut down the shipbreaking industry.
They requested the industries ministry to soften
some of the conditions and withdraw or reduce the fines and compensations
proposed to make them consistent with the penalties set in the Labor Law 2006.
They termed the proposed rules for the shipbreaking
industry discriminatory compared to those for the other industries.
Dilip said that the government would not create any
antagonistic situation for the shipbreaking industry.
Rather, the governments wants, he said, to help the
entrepreneurs run their industries in an environment friendly manner by
ensuring safety and health of the workers.
The government is serious to make the shipbreaking
industry green and eco-friendly at any cost, said the minister.
There would be no compromise in bringing the
violators to the book, he said.
Federation of Bangladesh Chamber of Commerce and
Industry president AK Azad said that the new rules should stipulate strict
provisions to ensure safety and health of the workers and conservation of the
environment.
He said that some of the shipbreakers did not
comply with the law in providing proper compensation to the worker who died in
accidents while working in hazardous shipbreaking yard conditions.
Azad said that the proposed set of rules should
make it compulsory for the shipbreaking yard owners to provide life insurance
coverage to workers.
He suggested for regular employment of the workers
to ensure their entitlement to gratuity and other facilities.
Chairman of Parliamentary Standing Committee on
Commerce Ministry ABM Abul Kashem, MP, however, described some of the proposed
rules stipulating fines and compensations as antagonistic to the interest of
the shipbreaking industry.
He said these factors would hamper the industry.
Kashem described shipbreaking industry as ‘a
growing industry’ employing 30,000 workers which supplied most of the raw
materials for around 20,000 factories across country including steel mills.
He said that some quarters were trying to destroy
the growing shipbreaking industry in the name environment.
‘It seems that the new rules would be designed to
prevent entrepreneurs from running their ship breaking industry,’ said
Bangladesh Ship Breakers’ Association advisor Salah Uddin.
It makes an impression as if ship breakers are not
human beings, he said.
Salah Uddin said that the industry ministry should
warn the shipyard owners before shutting down breaking yards for violation of
the rules.
He opposed the proposed fine of Tk one crore and
shutting down a breaking yard for running business making false declaration
that it was breaking a ship containing no unmanageable or hazardous wastes.
He said that the government had been earning
revenue worth thousands of cror of Tk from the shipbreaking industry.
Representatives of shipbreakers and the relevant
ministries, departments, NGOs, naval expert and environmentalists took part in
the discussion.
Shipbreakers said that they expect to import around
300 ships by the end of next year, up from 220 in 2009 before the restrictions
come.
Each year Bangladesh
Source: The New Age. 5 December 2011
http://newagebd.com/newspaper1/national/42437.html
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