Ship breakers seek time, intervention of PM to fight HC shutdown order
Monday, 23 March 2009
M Azizur Rahman
The country's thriving ship breakers would seek time from the high court and prime minister's intervention to pass critical environment tests that have raised fears for survival of their half a billion dollar industry.
The move comes a week after a high court ruling ordered shut-down of some 36 ship breaking yards --- the biggest scrap mortuary on earth--- found guilty of flouting environmental laws along the shores at Sitakundu.
"The survival of our Tk35 billion industry and jobs of 100,000 people are now at stake due to the high court order," Bangladesh Ship Breakers' Association (BSBA) President Zafar Alam told the FE Sunday.
The industry, which meets more than 40 per cent of country's growing steel demand, is gripped with panic and counting every hour of the two weeks deadline as they sought to fight off the " toughest challenge," said Alam.
Worried about their future, thousands of ship-breaking workers also on Saturday staged demonstration and formed human chains on Dhaka-Chittagong highway demanding urgent government steps to salvage the sector.
"Never in our 40-year history have we had such a big crisis. The high court order may spell doom to the thriving industry and hundreds of thousands of jobs in more than 200 re-rolling and steel mills," the BSBA president said.
The panic-stricken Sitakundu scrap yards, which last year overtook India's Alang as the biggest ship breakers in the world, has sought appointment with the Prime Minister to air their fear and find a reasonable solution.
The association has appointed top lawyers to fight the high court order that followed a writ filed by Bangladesh Environment Lawyers Association (BELA) last year.
Alam said ambiguities in the government order on environmental regulation required for local industries led to the 'unprecedented' ruling.
"We were never treated as industries. Hence we did not feel the necessity to obtain clearance from the Department of Environment (DoE)," he said.
"The government should treat us as recyclers like elsewhere in the world. We bring in ships and break them into pieces and then sell the steel sheets to re-rolling and steel mills," he added.
Syeda Rizawana Hasan, the director of BELA, which filed the public interest litigation, however rejected Alam's argument, saying "the high court has given the verdict calling ship breaking as an industry under the labour act."
More than 100 ships are dismantled each year on beaches at Sitakundu although the industry has long been a subject of controversy over its environmental impact and working conditions.
Last month a global human rights group accused the ship breakers of employing some 7000 children below the age of 18 to toil for hours in most hazardous conditions.
The ship breakers rejected the allegations, saying they don't employ any child labour and only recruit their workers from the most poverty-stricken region of the country.
Alam said the country's all 36 operational ship-breaking yards would fulfill all environment regulations if they get adequate time from the government.
"You cannot expect things to change overnight," he said and alleged that a vested-quarter based overseas and being backed by local non-government organisations (NGOs) was out to destroy the ship-breaking sector.
The country's thriving ship breakers would seek time from the high court and prime minister's intervention to pass critical environment tests that have raised fears for survival of their half a billion dollar industry.
The move comes a week after a high court ruling ordered shut-down of some 36 ship breaking yards --- the biggest scrap mortuary on earth--- found guilty of flouting environmental laws along the shores at Sitakundu.
"The survival of our Tk35 billion industry and jobs of 100,000 people are now at stake due to the high court order," Bangladesh Ship Breakers' Association (BSBA) President Zafar Alam told the FE Sunday.
The industry, which meets more than 40 per cent of country's growing steel demand, is gripped with panic and counting every hour of the two weeks deadline as they sought to fight off the " toughest challenge," said Alam.
Worried about their future, thousands of ship-breaking workers also on Saturday staged demonstration and formed human chains on Dhaka-Chittagong highway demanding urgent government steps to salvage the sector.
"Never in our 40-year history have we had such a big crisis. The high court order may spell doom to the thriving industry and hundreds of thousands of jobs in more than 200 re-rolling and steel mills," the BSBA president said.
The panic-stricken Sitakundu scrap yards, which last year overtook India's Alang as the biggest ship breakers in the world, has sought appointment with the Prime Minister to air their fear and find a reasonable solution.
The association has appointed top lawyers to fight the high court order that followed a writ filed by Bangladesh Environment Lawyers Association (BELA) last year.
Alam said ambiguities in the government order on environmental regulation required for local industries led to the 'unprecedented' ruling.
"We were never treated as industries. Hence we did not feel the necessity to obtain clearance from the Department of Environment (DoE)," he said.
"The government should treat us as recyclers like elsewhere in the world. We bring in ships and break them into pieces and then sell the steel sheets to re-rolling and steel mills," he added.
Syeda Rizawana Hasan, the director of BELA, which filed the public interest litigation, however rejected Alam's argument, saying "the high court has given the verdict calling ship breaking as an industry under the labour act."
More than 100 ships are dismantled each year on beaches at Sitakundu although the industry has long been a subject of controversy over its environmental impact and working conditions.
Last month a global human rights group accused the ship breakers of employing some 7000 children below the age of 18 to toil for hours in most hazardous conditions.
The ship breakers rejected the allegations, saying they don't employ any child labour and only recruit their workers from the most poverty-stricken region of the country.
Alam said the country's all 36 operational ship-breaking yards would fulfill all environment regulations if they get adequate time from the government.
"You cannot expect things to change overnight," he said and alleged that a vested-quarter based overseas and being backed by local non-government organisations (NGOs) was out to destroy the ship-breaking sector.