Supreme Court Directives for Shipbreaking at Alang

1) Before a ship arrives at port, it should have proper consent from the concerned authority or the State Maritime Board, stating that it does not contain any hazardous waste or radioactive substances. AERB should be consulted in the matter in appropriate cases.
(2) The ship should be properly decontaminated by the ship owner prior to the breaking. This should be ensured by the SPCBs.
(3) Waste generated by the shipbreaking process should be classified into hazardous and non-hazardous categories, and their quantity should be made known to the concerned authority or the State Maritime Board.
(4) Disposal of waste material, viz. oil, cotton, dead cargo of inorganic material like hydrated/solidified elements, thermo- Cole pieces, glass wool, rubber, broken tiles, etc. should be done in a proper manner, utilizing technologies that meet the criteria of an effective destruction efficiency of 99.9 per cent, with no generation of persistent organic pollutants, and complete containment of all gaseous, liquid and solid residues for analysis and, if needed, reprocessing. Such disposed of material should be kept at a specified place earmarked for this purpose. Special care must be taken in the handling of asbestos wastes, and total quantities of such waste should be made known to the concerned authorities. The Gujarat Pollution Control Board should authorize appropriate final disposal of asbestos wastes.
(5) The shipbreaking industries should be given authorization under rule 5 of the H.W. Rules, 2003, only if they have provisions for disposal of the waste in environmentally sound manner. All authorization should be renewed only if an industry has facilities for disposal of waste in environmentally sound manner.


(6) The state Maritime Board should insist that all quantities of waste oil sludge and other similar mineral oils and paint chips are carefully removed from the ship and taken immediately to areas outside the beach for safe disposal.
(7) There should be an immediate ban on burning of any material, whether hazardous or non-hazardous, on the beach.

(8) State pollution control board (of Gujarat and other coastal states where this shipbreaking activity is done) should be directed to order closure of all those units that are not authorized under the Hazardous Waste Rules.
(9) That the plots where no activities are currently being conducted should not be allowed to commence any fresh shipbreaking activity unless they have necessary authorization
(10) The Gujarat PCB should ensure Continuous monitoring of ambient air, SPM and noise level as per the standard fixed. The Gujarat pollution control board be further directed to install proper equipments and infrastructures for inspection of hazardous materials, radio-active substances (Wherever applicable). AER should be consulted in such cases.
(11) The Gujarat pollution control board will ensure compliances of the new Gujarat maritime Board (provisions of fire and accidents for safety and welfare of workers and protection of environment during shipbreaking activities) regulations, 2000, by Gujarat maritime Board and should submit a compliance report to the court within one year of the coming into force of the said regulations.

(12) The notification issued by GMB in 2001 on Gas free for hot work, should be made mandatory and no ship should be given beaching permission unless this certificate is shown. Any explosion irrespective of the possession of certificate should be dealt sternly and the license of the plot holder should be cancelled and explosive inspector should be prosecuted accordingly for giving false certificate.
(13) A complete inventory of hazardous waste on board of ship should be made mandatory for the ship owner. And no breaking permission should be granted without such an inventory. This inventory should also be submitted by the GMB to concerned SPCBs to ensure safe disposal of hazardous and toxic waste.
(14) GMB and GSPCB officers should visit the sites at regular intervals so that the plot owners know that these institutions are serious about improvement in operational standards. An Inter-Ministerial Committee comprising Ministry of Surface Transport, Ministry of Steel, Ministry of Labor and Ministry of Environment and Forests should be constituted with the involvement of labor and environment organizations and representatives of the shipbreaking industry.

(15) The SPCBs along with State maritime Boards should prepare Landfill sites and incinerators as per the CPCB guidelines and only after prior approval of the CPCB. This action should be taken on time bound manner. The maximum time allowed should be one year.
(16) At the international level, India should participate in international meetings on shipbreaking at the level of the International Maritime Organization and the Basel Convention’s Technical Working Group with a clear mandate for the decontamination of ships of their hazardous substances such as asbestos, waste oil, gas and PCBs, prior to export to India for breaking. Participation should included from Central and state level.
(17) The continuation or expansion of the Alang shipbreaking operations should be permitted subject to compliance with the above recommendations by the plot-holders.
(18) That the above conditions also apply to other ship breaking activities in other coastal states.