The High Court today imposed restrictions on
scrapping MT Producer, an imported scrap vessel at a ship-breaking yard in
Chittagong, till October 5 this year, for suspected presence of radioactive
material in one of its pipes.
The court also sought for the assessment
report on whether there is radiation in the ship from the expert committee
formed by the government following a prayer from Janata Steel Mill (Ship
Breaking Yard), which purchased the ship for scrapping.
The government has been asked to submit the
assessment report to the HC by October 5.
The court also issued a rule asking the
authorities concerned to explain why giving a clearance certificate in favour
of MT Producer should not be declared illegal.
The bench of Justice M Enayetur Rahim and
Justice Md Jahangir Hossain passed the order and the rule after hearing a
petition filed by Bangladesh Environmental Lawyers Association (Bela) seeking
necessary order from it on the authorities not to break the toxic ship.
Bela recently submitted the petition as
supplementary to a pending writ petition, saying that the representatives of
the Department of Environment (DoE), Bangladesh Atomic Energy Commission
(BAEC), Bangladesh Atomic Energy Regulatory Authority (BAERA), and the Marine
Port Initiative of Bangladesh Customs (MPIBC) have visited 11 points of the MT
Producer and prepared a report based on their findings.
In the report, Gamma Radiation Dose Rate at
one of the 11 points was found to be much higher than Background Radiation
Level, which is harmful for public health, Bela said in the supplementary
petition, adding that accidents might take place if the toxic ship is
scrapped.
Following the writ petition filed by Bela,
the HC on June 8 had asked for the assessment reports from the four agencies on
the presence of naturally occurring radioactive material in MT Producer.
Source:
the
daily star. 29 August 2017
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