Gujarat govt hit out strongly at Rahul’s allegations of radioactive exposure to Alang labourers

Gandhinagar

Refuting and hitting out strongly at the charges leveled by Congress Vice President Rahul Gandhi claiming that the labourers in the Alang Ship breaking yard in Gujarat die early due to radioactive exposure, the state government today said that it was not only false and unfounded but rather ‘perverse allegation.

A statement issued by the information department of the Gujarat government today, a day after the hard hitting statement of Mr. Gandhi at Kisan sammelan of congress at Ramlila maidan yesterday, said a responsible person would do well to first obtain proper information before making such a sweeping statement.

First and foremost it is clarified that so far no nuclear powered vessel or war ship having radioactive potential has ever been recycled at the Alang Sosia Ship Recycling Yard. In any case should such a vessel arrive, the experts of Atomic Energy Regulatory Board (AERB) would first inspect the vessel as per the  established protocol under the AERB rules. Furthermore, there is a standard operational procedure for handling equipment like smoke detection levels. These  equipment are handled by AERB trained Radiological Survey Officers of the Gujarat Maritime Board (GMB) and the workers are not allowed to come in the  vicinity of the radioactive material, the statement said.

At Alang, all protection under various labour laws and statutes is available to the workers and provisions of National Ship Breaking Code 2013 are duly followed.

Alang Ship Breaking Yard has all basic amenities for the workers. All workers are trained by the GMB run safety Training Institute and deployed in ship breaking  only after proper training. All workers are provided with personal protective equipment under enforcement of Factory Laws and wages are paid as per  Labour Laws. Currently there are two hospitals at Alang, one operated by the Red Cross which is funded by the GMB one private Hospital approved by the GMB.

There is a dedicated hazardous waste treatment, storage and disposal facility comprising landfill, incinerator and effluent treatment disposal of very low quantum of hazardous waste i.e. even less than 0.5% of the Ships’ waste generated during ship recycling.Hence, the statement made by Vice President of INC regarding the alleged exploitation of the workers of Alang and regarding their exposure to radioactive materials is not only false and unfounded but is rather perverse, the statement said.