Every time a ship for scrap reaches the Steel
Industries Kerala Ltd. (SILK) unit at Azhikkal here, there are apprehensions
about environmental pollution.
And it is not likely to be any different this
time when a 1,300-tonne cargo ship has been brought to the public sector vessel
dismantling unit located on the bank of the Valapattanam river, if the concerns
aired in a section of the media are any indication.
The cargo vessel from Male reached the SILK
unit here recently for dismantling.
SILK officials have said all statutory
environmental rules and directives will be complied with before the work for
dismantling the vessel starts. They said that this was the first vessel brought
at the unit for breaking after completion of the ship-breaking activities amid
protests by an action committee of local residents and environmental activists
a few years ago. They had then demanded its closure saying that the ship-for-scrap
work causes environmental and health hazards.
When contacted, SILK Managing Director J.
Chandrabose told The Hindu over the phone that all statutory rules and
directives from the Pollution Control Board will be complied with before the
breaking starts. The dismantling work will be done in the workshop of the unit
with roofing and concrete floor as required under the rules, he said adding
that concrete flooring ensures that not a single drop of oil or grease from the
ship reaches the waters.
The Azhikkal unit of SILK had been started
for building boats as well as breaking vessels for generating steel required
for recycling.
The public sector company is said to be
running on accumulated loss, though the Azhikkal unit is surviving with orders
for ship for scrap.
The latest order for dismantling coincides
with the attempts to secure an order from the Kerala State Water Transport
Corporation for building passenger boats. The SILK officials confided that the
order is now at the stage of tendering. The unit can stay afloat if it gets
three or four vessels for dismantling every year, they said. Ship breaking is
also for reuse of iron used in ships, they added.
N. Mohammed, senior manager of the SILK unit
at Azhikkal, said the unit has all the licences from the Pollution Control
Board and the local panchayat for carrying out its operations. No contamination
of water is possible as the vessel is not being dismantled in the water but
inside the workshop with concrete floor. The unit also does steel fabrication
work for other agencies, he added.
Source: hellenic shipping news. 18 March 2017
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