The letter from the Alang Ship Breaker,Mr. Nayan Shah:

Dear Sir,

I read your big issue from all news and your website nearly three hours for arrival of vessel in ship breaking,and your green peace says its toxic vessel !!!! where as i belong to same town and engaged in same trade of this industry,Regarding did you Indian branch inform what positive points are there for poor country like us? if u wish do read following

01.Nearly 3 lacs of people are depended on this industry,.in local town of bhavnagar ( population is 7 lacs)

02.Economic of banks in Bhavnagar and business trade related to this industry is completely rule by ship breaking industry because its huge turn overbusiness.From every house one person is linked with this industry of town.


03.This complete area lacks rainfall and due to this matter local people are very poor and they food for leaving in better shape.

04 Nearly 60 000 people are migrants from another state for labour jobs itself in alang and total 2 lacs migrants in Gujarat in various industry which is depend on alang.

05. 500 industry small and big are depends on this industry in only gujarat.( industry are- re-rolling industry which gives cheaper convertions, oxygen plants, Metal industry, wooden industry,transportation, SHIPPING COMPANY OF INDIAS ..nearly 3000 vechicle running to and fro..even pertol station are depend on alang business).

06.More than 10000 small or big Industry depended on alang in India and specially north India.

07. Cheaper convertion of each RAW MATERIAL OBTAINED FROM SHIP BREAKING items..AND END USERS ARE SAVED FROM MONOPOLY OF GIANT INDUSTRY WHICH ALSO RULE GOVERMENT( WHICH YOU TOO MIGHT BE AWARE OF GAME OF GOVERMENT AND INDUSTRIALIST WHICH ARE NEARLY BIG CORPORATE)

08.Nearly 5000 Industry gets second hand equipment to run in very good condition which are cheaper and not available since after 30 yrs..( technology not available in India for some machinery which industrial engineers rebuilt from this machinery and re-use it)

09. 80 % of turn over of banks in Bhavnagar is due to Alang.

10 This area is very dry region due to less rainfall in last 10yrs..hard to find work /job/develop business.

11 Hotel and flights are also depends on this industry due to business and foregin trade comming to India.
12 Alang is big in plot number wise BUT NOT IN AREA wise..as pakistan holds super big yards than India and demolish more tanker vessel than India..why Head Office of GREENPEACE not making issue in Pakistan and why making issue in India only?

13 Netherland is trying since last two years for ship breaking but not succeed why? Which country ship ownes are being blackmailed or pressrised by greeen peace head office do u know that..GO AND ASK GERMAN SHIP OWNERS..

14 Why such a big issue for Asbestos ( toxic matter), why not stopping western country who are making this toxic goods and used in new building in ship breaking industry? And since I am engaged in this industry i have never seen any person dying due to any toxic chemical or equipments.There is no such case register in books of goverment for
death occured of any labour or person due to toxic material.

15.Private or Goverment Hospitals are run by ship breaking company funds donations.where poor people gets service free of charge..JUST GO AND CHECK FROM 15 YRS ONE HOSPITAL WHICH IS BIGGEST OF TOWN GIVING
FREE SERVICE 24 HOURS..NAME RAM MANTRA MANDIE HOSPITALS..

16.IF ONE DAY STRIKE DISTURBS COMPLETE ECONOMY OF TOWN OF POPLULATION HAVING 7 LACS.JUST IMAGE WHAT ARE POSITIVE GROWTH OF THIS REGION...

17 INDIA s one of most pride engineering companies of rajkot is totally depend on alang.

EVERY INDUSTRY HOLDS +VE AND -VE POINTS, JUST CHECK SECURITY MATTERS IN ALANG FIRST WHAT GOVERMENT IS DOING ( GMB) BEST FOR SHIP BREAKING AND SPENDING CRS OF RS ON SAFETY AND FREE MEDICAL SERVICE CAMPS..FROM 10 YRS..FREE MEDICAL VAN IS CONTINOUS PRESENT TO EACH YARDS AND LABOUR AT FREE COST.

CAN GREEN PEACE GIVES CLEAN CLARRIFICATION WHAT THINGS THEY SAY HAZARDEOUS..DO THEY HAVE DEFINATION..ALANG INDUSTRY AND SHIP BREAKER ARE TAKING TOTAL PRECOATIONS FOR EACH MATTERS IN CLEAN AND HYGINE WAY.

MY PERSONAL REQUEST..PLS DONT MAKE A BIG ISSUE FOR THIS INDUSTRY AND TRY TO LOWER THE ISSUE AND MAKE EASY MOVEMENT OTHERWISE A SMALL EFFECT IN INTERNATIONL MARKET WILL SPOIL NAME OF INDIA..AND GREENPEACE HEADOFFICE IS GETTING PLAYED BY WESTERN COUNTRY IN THIS MATTER AND
DAMAGING REPUTATION OF ALANG INDUSTRY AND GOVERMENT OF INDIA IN INTERNATIONAL LAWS.

FROM 100 % POLUTION...INDIA IS THROWING 7 % POLUTION WHILE WESTERN COUNTRY ARE SECOND HIGHEST FOR THIS MATTER AND AMERICA 27 % AND GERMANY21 % ARE BIGGEST THROWING POLUTION IN WORLD, WHY NOT HIGHLIGHTING THIS MATTER IN INTERNATIONAL COUNTRY.

DONT YOU FEEL happy FOR FELLOW BEING INDIAN EARING FOR LIFE AND SURVIVING HAPPILY WITH FAMILY FOR LIFE? UTTERPRADESH / ORRISA / MADYAPRADESH ARE HIGEST LABOUR LINKED IN THIS INDUSTRY AND THIS IS ALANG IS LIKE GULF COUNTRY TO EARN MONEY FOR THEM NEARLY 2 LACS OF LABOUR OF OTHER STATE ARE IN GUJARAT AND THIS INDUSTRY ARE DEPEND ON ALANG I HOPE YOU UNDERSTAND IN THIS MUCH OF WORDS.

WHY NOT TAKING A +VE ATTITUDE AND SHOW REALISTIC PICTURE TO WORLD WHAT THIS INDUSTRY GAVE TO PEOPLE AND SPECAILLY show all +ve points TO GREENPEACE AND WHAT BEST THEY ARE DEVELOPING IN INDIA and locally.

Our response to Mr Nayan Shah

Dear Mr. Shah,

We are surprised that you and your fellow-ship-breakers have taken such a negative attitude towards our campaign to ensure clean-ship recycling, better working conditions for your workers and protection of our beaches and ocean from western toxic waste.

We wish to reiterate that Greenpeace is not opposed to ship-breaking in Alang or anywhere else in the world. As a matter of fact we want Alang and India to take the lead in clean-ship recycling and receive more business in immediate future.

The Greenpeace campaign is primarily focussed on the responsibilities of all those involved in an End-of-Life-Ship before it is sold to a ship-breaker and beached i.e. the ship owners. We strongly believe and we have repeatedly stated quite clearly that it is the responsibility of the ship owner and the exporting country to deliver to you a TOXIC FREE ship and not a ship which creates all the problems you are forced to deal with. It is the responsibility of all the
concerned authorities in India to ensure this.

The ship-breaking industry wants steel - not all the toxic waste that ships contain! We are sure you would prefer your business to be a non-polluting one. Greenpeace is here because we would like to see you succeed in turning your business into a profitable AND safe oneWe are also aware about the economic importance of the ship-breaking industry, its employment potential and its contribution to the overall development of the region. We want to value-add to this industry by making sure that Alang is a model for clean ship-recycling business .

Incidentally, this is the only way forward globally, for the entire industry. Supreme Court of India, Basel Convention and even the IMO have said that ship-owners must remove the toxic waste on board each ship before it arrives in
ship-breaking yards. Pleasedon't forget this agreement has only been made because of sustained campaigning by organisations like Greenpeace over many years. We are now at a point where an international agreement can be made to apply on every ship-owner all over the world.

But for that to happen, we need to create pressure on the international community - something that you can help us to do.

Greenpeace is actively lobbying for global regime i.e. a level playing field for all ship-breaking countries, for a mandatory regulation with the International Maritime Organisation. We are campaigning for implementation of international and national laws and clean ship recycling in Bangladesh, Turkey and China. We have been unable to make a break-through in Pakistan as yet, but we are quite confident that if IMO commits to mandatory guidelines, there will be no question of any countries stealing business from you.

Greenpeace is an independent environmental pressure group that is not influenced by governments, corporations and companies. We raise our funds from 4 million ordinary individual supporters in 40 countries. As a matter of fact the European shipping industry is our biggest opponent. They are trying hard to cancel our observer status at the IMO because our campaigns to protect our planet hurt their short-term profit objectives.

Finally, we come to your responsibilities as a ship-breaker. I wish to strongly react to your casual and callous statement regarding the impacts on health of workers and the local population and indeed the life on our earth because of toxic chemicals. It is completely unethical for us to believe that lower environmental standards, and a lower 'premium' on human lives than other countries can be considered one of our competitive advantages in the
ship-breaking industry.

Gujarat ship-breakers have run this business with migrant workers whose medical records are deliberately never maintained. The workers are employed on a temporary basis, to enable the ship-breaker to terminate their labour as soon as the workers health starts deteriorating.

The effects of cancer-causing, endocrine-disrupting, chemicals like PCBs, Asbestos, TBT and cocktail of other deadly chemicals on board ships are insidious and slow and do not show up in one year or two. By this time, the poor worker's employment is usually terminated - the longest a ship-breaker is willing to employ the poor worker is for two years.

Gujarat ship breakers have not allowed any independent NGO or even governmental institutions to enter their yards to study the health impacts of the people, which is why there is no independent verification of your claims.

As a matter of fact, if YOU spend considerable time in your yards close to these chemicals, I highly recommend that you immediately get a health check done for yourself and your family.

For more on health impacts on workers please get an immediate medical survey done amongst your past and present yard workers.

Your point about the number of hospitals that have suddenly cropped up in Alang should make you think as to why they are needed and for whom.

In an other wise detailed note, you seem to have forgotten to mention the real accident statistics in Alang yards, where hundreds of workers die every year because of a lack of personal protection gear and unsafe working conditions.


There is much to do

1. Put the liability on the ship-owners through a mandatory international law
2. Ensure through the same international law that no ship-breaking nation can
take unfair advantage by lowering environmental and safety standards.
3. Improve conditions in our yards in Alang through the implementation of the
supreme court directives in letter and in spirit.

Do not accuse us unfairly of trying to stop the business. This is a great opportunity to improve the business, protect the environment and improve the conditions of the workers.

Join us.

Take Action Now

Send a message to the IMO :Dont Silence Greenpeace