The ‘Le Clemenceau’ Controversy

On February 17, 2006, though the Le Clemenceau issue was settled, the Supreme Court set its sights on the working conditions at Alang and asked the Central Government to set up a committee of experts to prepare a report on the safety standards at Alang.

Ironically, on the same day, a fire accident occurred at Alang during the dismantling of a French ship ‘Chinese Sea Discoverer’ which resulted in nine workers suffering minor injuries. The Le Clemenceau controversy brought into focus the poor safety standards for workers in India’s ship breaking industry.

Asia accounted for the largest ship breaking market in world with Bangladesh, China, India, and Pakistan having a dominant 90% share of the total ship breaking market. India in particular had a history of dismantling warships purchased from Russia and other western nations.

Alang, located on the Western coast of India in the state of Gujarat, was one of the biggest ship breaking ports in the world and employed approximately 150,000 workers. Alang had attracted the ire of environmental activists for quite some time due to the working conditions prevalent over there which were below safety standards.

Workers employed for ship breaking lacked basic safety equipment like gloves or protective clothing and equipment which resulted in exposure to toxic chemicals and metals during the ship breaking process. Hazardous working conditions and exposure to toxic material over a long period resulted in these workers succumbing to critical ailments like asbestosis, lung cancer.

Also, a high number of workers were victims of accidents that occurred during the ship breaking activity which resulted in loss of life or being rendered handicapped for life. In the last decade, the ship breaking industry in India recorded a death toll of 275 workers, who died due to various accidents during ship breaking.

Another major concern was that government regulations relating to ship dismantling were not strictly enforced at Alang. It was alleged that at times, regulations were molded to suit companies involved in the ship dismantling business, disregarding the health of the workers who worked in hazardous conditions for meager wages. Environmentalists feared that poor regulatory conditions at Alang were also a reason why France decided to send the asbestos laden Le Clemenceau there.

The ship breaking industry at Alang had been awaiting the arrival of Le Clemenceau in the hope that it would revive the industry’s fortunes. In the wake of the controversy, authorities on the ship breaking yard had assured that they would arrange for safety masks and other safety equipment required for dismantling Clemenceau. The authorities further claimed that they had prior experience having dismantled similar Russian warships.

Dangers associated with ship scrapping

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