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The fire broke out in a dismantled ship in
Gadani on Thursday. PHOTO: ONLINE
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KARACHI: The government and ship-breakers
have not learned from the previous oil tanker tragedy and, due to their apathy,
another such incident had to be contained on December 22, said Gadani
ship-breaking yard on Thursday.
The NTUF deputy general secretary was
addressing a press conference at his office in Karachi over the fire incident
that occurred earlier in the morning at the Gadani ship-breaking yard.
Fortunately, no loss of life was reported in this incident.
A fire started at a decommissioned LPG
container moored at Plot No 60 at the Gadani ship-breaking yard while labourers
were cutting through its walls using wielding torches, he said.
Around 100 workers were aboard the ship and
they all disembarked immediately using a crane after some of them alarmed them
about the fire, he said, adding that it started at around 11am.
“The incident speaks about the government and
ship-breakers’ lack of concern towards workers’ lives,” he criticised. “No
improvement has been made to ensure safety at workplace. Despite witnessing the
deadliest incident in the industry history, no safety measure has been taken,”
he said, referring to the November 1 oil tankers tragedy in which 26 workers
were killed.
Gadani Ship Breaking Workers Union president
Bashir Mehmoodani was also present during the press conference. He said that
the ship-breakers’ only concern was the money they were making from this work.
He said that the matter of four people
missing in the previous incident has yet to be resolved and the authorities
have showed no concern towards it. “The police are refusing to register an FIR
about them. Without this, their case cannot be put forward. The families of
Imran, Shafiq, Hanif and Sherdad are going through distress as neither have
they recovered their loved ones’ dead bodies nor have they been informed about
them,” he said.
HRCP launched fact-finding report
Meanwhile, the Human Rights Commission of
Pakistan (HRCP) launched a report of its fact-finding mission on the November 1
tragedy. The report read about the shortcomings in the management and
authorities check in the ship-breaking work.
The report laid responsibility of the fire on
the yard’s owner, managers and contractors, Customs, Balochistan Environment
Protection Agency and Balochistan Development Authority.
Speaking at the report launch, Pakistan
Institute of Labour Education and Research executive director Karamat Ali said
that in accordance to Article 9 of the Constitution, which guarantees right to
life, safety at workplaces should be ensured. “A person spends most of his time
at the place he works and when he is not given safety at his workplaces, his
right to life is violated,” he remarked, adding that there was a need of making
new laws in the country to address these issues as the existing were dating
back to 1934.
Source:
the express tribune. 22 December 2016
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