New Delhi:
A team of experts that probed complaints of high levels of toxic material and radioactive substance in a US ship anchored off Alang port in Gujarat has said the vessel contains these substances.
The five-member team, however, failed to assess the hazard factor of polychlorinated biphenyl (PCB) in the vessel saying it had no expertise to do so.
In its report submitted to Environment Ministry recently, the five-member team said all hazardous waste like asbestos-containing material (ACM) and PCB and radioactive material were found to be present in the ship in its structure as is prevalent in any ship of this type.
It said the ship "Platinum-II" was a passenger vessel with all the amenities and not a warship as alleged and "it could make an assessment of the ACM but found it difficult to quantitatively assess quantity of PCBs."
The team of the central government said it was not aware of the allegations on issues relating to US EPA (Environmental Protection Agency) saying "it must have been verified as per normal procedure followed for such purposes at the Republic of Kiribati before registration in the name of M/s Platinum Investment Services Corporation."
Gopal Krishna, convener of the Indian Platform on Ship breaking, an environmental activist group opposing the ship's entry, said it was quite surprising that the team is not aware of the US EPA order which has barred the movement of the ship to developing countries and they should recall it..."