Recognising ship-breaking as an industry

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The government last Sunday declared the ship-breaking as an industry and decided to place it under the ministry of industries. The decision, obviously, would irk the environmentalists who have been opposing the continuation of the sector on environmental and health reasons while it would remove much of the worries of the owners of ship-breaking units, re-rolling and steel mills, linkage industries and thousands of workers employed in the sector.
The decision taken at a meeting chaired by the Prime Minister and a number of ministers, advisers and high officials was not an easy one to make for the government since the sector has both positive and negative sides. On the one hand, the ship-breaking units, located at the seashore in Chittagong, make some positive contribution to the economy and employment generation, but on the one hand, their unregulated and haphazard growth might lead to serious environmental degradation and health hazards.
In fact, the ship-breaking units are the main source of the bulk of the raw materials used by some 500 private sector re-rolling mills and nearly 50 steel mills for producing mild steel rods, bars, angles etc., at affordable prices. The beneficiaries of the industry include both private and public sectors. Had the mills and factories concerned been forced to use imported billets for producing iron and steel products, the cost of construction of pucca structures would have been far greater. The deadlock created over an order by the higher court concerning the operations of the ship-breaking units for the last six months has already pushed up the prices of steel products by nearly 30 per cent.
The bodies of ships that are not sea-worthy are easy and excellent sources of steel at almost throwaway prices. The growing demand for steel products in the country has encouraged a good number of private sector people to be engaged in the industry that proved to be very rewarding, in terms of profit and employment generation. In fact, barring hazardous wastes, asbestos, a few chemicals, engine oil and lubricants of the ships, over 95 per cent of a ship's contents are recycled. Scrapped iron is used by the re-rolling and steel mills while electrical and mechanical tools, household appliances and machineries of the ships are sold by a large number of shops in Chittagong at cheaper prices.
However, there are a few negative sides of the ship-breaking industry that are difficult to ignore. The ship-breakers are often found vitiating the environment by dumping hazardous chemicals and other materials on the sea-beach, rather callously. Moreover, with a view to accommodating more ships, trees along the coastal areas in Chittagong are being felled indiscriminately. Then again, the owners of the sector have allegedly been paying low wages to their workers who are exposed to be very tough and hazardous conditions. In case of fatal accidents, the workers concerned are not adequately compensated.
The Prime Minister, who is very much aware of the positives and negatives of the ship-breaking industry, has rightly laid emphasis on the adherence to rules, regulations and conventions by all stakeholders concerned to avoid any sort of environmental degradation. Actually, the recognition granted to ship-breaking as an industry has come under economic compulsions. So, it should be a solemn duty of the government agencies and the industry people to cause the least damage to environment and to offer better deals to the workers engaged in the sector. If needed, the government should formulate new rules and regulations for the purposes and ensure their proper enforcement.