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ssNorway row reaches Indian Parliament

The liner, which a team of Emirati investors hope to save and bring to Dubai as a luxury floating hotel, is currently resting on the sands at Alang.

Yesterday Shri Basudev Acharya, senior parliamentarian and leader of the Communist Party of India (Marxist), petitioned the Indian Parliament protesting the entry of the ship into Indian waters and, the behaviour of the shadowy scrapping consortiums Haryana Ship Demolitions and Priya Blue Shipping in the scandal.

Describing the ship’s current position as a “manifest violation of the court’s order”, Mr Acharya presented a petition from Gopal Krishna of the Indian Platform on Ship-breaking asking parliament to investigate “whether our sovereignty can be infringed by dumping hazardous wastes from developed countries. Furthermore whether ship-breaking is allowed by the government without prior decontamination of the ship notwithstanding the environmental considerations, effect on human life, in particular, on the workers of Alang and commitment of our country to Basel Convention”.

The ssNorway is thought to contain more that 1,200 tones of fire retardant asbestos. Under the Basel Convention, of which India is a signatory, the asbestos should have been removed by the ship’s true owners, Star Cruise Limited of Malaysia, before entering Indian waters.

Environmental groups, including Greenpeace, claim Star Cruise’s actions were deliberately designed to avoid them having to pay for prior decontamination. The ship is thought be worth just $12 million. Experts say the cost of decontamination would exceed that price.

Project Dubai has publicly pledged to ensure the total decontamination of the ship to the ‘highest international standards’. They then plan to spend an estimated $100 million refurbishing the ship as a luxury hotel, conference and cultural centre anchored at Dubai.

The project has widespread support from environmentalists, politicians and shipping experts.

In a letter to Shri Somnath Chatterjee, speaker of India’s Parliament House, Mr Krishna referred to the ship’s recent passage to India. As revealed earlier in the Khaleej Times, the ship’s owners sent the ship from its anchor in Malaysia to the UAE claiming it was heading to the emirates for ‘repairs’. In fact, the liner went to India, where she is currently partially beached.

In his letter Mr Krishna states: “The ship is in illegal traffic and has hoodwinked government authorities of Germany, Malaysia and United Arab Emirates ... there is documentary evidence, which proves that the ship owner has indulged in fraudulent misrepresentation to escape decontamination, which it is required to undertake as per established law”.

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