In what is a major
setback for the shipbreaking industry in India, a study carried out by the
Mumbai-based Tata Institute of Social Sciences (TISS) on Alang yards showed
that working conditions had hardly improved over the years since its inception
31 years ago.
The study,
commissioned by the National Human Rights Commission (NHRC), is based on
intensive fieldwork at the world’s largest shipbreaking yard Alang and Sosiya
over 13 months from 21 April last year to 30 May 2014. The report has been
submitted in June, and is expected to be published in a few days.
The findings of the
study are bound to come as a shot in the arm for environmentalists Greenpeace,
who have been crying themselves hoarse over the years about what they call
inhuman working conditions at Alang and scant respect for the health of the
workers.
The green
campaigners have consistently objected to the lack of adequate safety
equipment, as also to the heavy presence of harmful substances like asbestos
and PCBs (polychlorinated biphenyls) in demolition vessels that endanger the
lives and heath of the workers, and render them susceptible to cancer and
respiratory ailments.
A senior member of
the TISS team, which carried out the studies at Alang said that there had been
470 deaths at the shipbreaking yards in Alang in the period 1983 to 2013.
“This is the
official figure, accepted by the shipbreakers’ association, but the actual
figure could be much higher,” he said. “The training provided to new workers is
inadequate; it is just for two to three days.
“The labourers are
mostly migrant workers from the poor regions of Bihar, Uttar Pradesh, Jharkhand
and Odisha. They are ignorant about the rules and regulations; they have no
idea of the labour laws. Nor are they aware of the compensation due to them.”
The TISS team
member alleged that proper medical help was never available, and that doctors
who visited the clinics were not regular.
“They do not have
an orthopaedic or skin specialist,” he said. “The only medical facility
available is a nine-bed hospital run by the Red Cross Society and a small
clinic run by a private doctor. For emergencies, the injured have to be taken
to Bhavnagar, which is almost 50 km away.”
Although the Ship
Recycling Association of India (SRIA) and Gujarat Maritime Board (GMB) which
overlooks and monitors the shipbreaking activity at the yards, claim that
health camps were being held for the workers, the TISS member said that it was
merely a symbolic activity.
Source:
sea
trade global. 11 August 2014
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