Fatal Accident continue to haunt Alang

[sivasankar]

Although the Gujarat government has set up a separate Inspectorate of Factories at Alang ship-breaking yard under its Industrial Health and Hygiene (IH&H) Department to enforce safety provisions, two more fatal accidents have been reported from the world’s largest ship-breaking yard in the last one month.

The recent incident that occurred on the 1st June on Plot 15 of the ship-breaking yard involved a labourer identified as Ayodhyasingh Rajput (35). Rajput was a native of Jharkhand and was employed by a local company named Chantivala Contractor.

The authorities have confirmed that the incident bore resemblance to yet another fatal accident that occurred at Plot 24 D in May. In both the cases, workers died when the crane’s rope carrying big steel plates cut from discarded ships broke and fell on them.

And this, when the ship-breaking industry is one of the few sectors that have benefited from the global economic meltdown. The ship price per tonne has fallen to $250 in a year from the high of $750 in June 2008, indicating a fall of nearly 60 per cent. On the other hand, steel prices have fallen by only 40 per cent resulting in a good margin for ship-breakers. And with nearly 25 to 30 vessels hitting Alang shores every month, the ship-breakers are minting money like never before.[/left]