The Supreme Court on Monday permitted the dismantling of the Norwegian ship Blue Lady, which reportedly contains toxic material and is currently anchored along the coast of Alang in Gujarat.
A bench comprising Justices Arijit Pasayat and S H Kapadia granted permission for dismantling the ship on the basis of the report submitted by the technical experts committee appointed by it.
Blue Lady ready to be dismantled:
More than a year after docking at the Alang ship-breaking yard in Bhavnagar, the passenger cruise liner Blue Lady is all set for dismantling following the go-ahead given by the Supreme Court.
"This decision is a victory for the ship-breaking industry at Alang. The Blue Lady's dismantling operation will give work to hundreds of labourers and a much-required boost to the sagging industry," Sanjay Mehta, purchaser of the ship told PTI over phone.
He said that the dismantling work would begin a week later once they get the court orders and take the required permissions.
"The dismantling process will take over a year. The fears concerning the radioactive material have all been cleared and whatever asbestos are there in the ship will be handled and disposed off in the most professional manner," he added.
Environment groups like Greenpeace and other NGOs that are against the dumping of asbestos from foreign ships in India had taken the matter to the Supreme Court soon after the ship docked alleging that 1240 MT of radioactive material and asbestos could hamper the lives of the labourers.
"There is only about two per cent of asbestos in the ship. The rest are all cement sheets so I don't know what the big concern of the environmental groups was," he added.
Mehta, however, was cautious about revealing details about the money earned from dismantling the Blue Lady, formerly known as SS Norway and said that these details will be clear only at a later stage.
Environment groups shocked:
"The Central government had informed the SC on September 5 that there was radioactive material onboard the Blue Lady and therefore the SC green signal to dismantle the ship is surprising," said Madhumita Dutta, on behalf of the NGO Platform on Shipbreaking.
She described the decision as wrong, particularly in view of the fact that the Apex Court had itself formed a technical committee to investigate the matter and submission by the Atomic Energy Regulatory Board its findings on the matter.
"We will talk to our lawyers regarding the next step," the activist added.
At the time of her construction in 1960s, Blue Lady, then known by the name of SS France was the longest passenger ship ever built. Her length of 316 metres remained unchallenged until the construction of the 345-metre-long RMS Queen Mary II in 2005.
