Stop Alang shipyard expansion plan to save Gujarat’s heritage

Beaches don’t figure in our imagination of rich ecosystems. Yet, they are teeming with life, as are the oceans. From housing shore birds, to being home for many small animals, the only place where turtles nest, beaches are a unique and fragile ecosystem.

That’s why expanding the notoriously toxic Alang Ship Breaking Yard (Gujarat) has to be stopped. The approved plan, now in court, will increase Alang’s capacity from 400 ships to 600 ships a year, by the beaching method.

Basically, this means that the ships will be broken down on the beach, spewing toxics, waste, oils and other materials that will also end up in the oceans. This pollution is irreversible.

Some people prefer the dry dock method, because the contamination can be controlled in an enclosed space.

I wonder, though, if this will have any impact on the terrible lives of the workers, who suffer severe injuries and even death in some cases.

Do we have to import ships, strip out their asbestos (poisonous even if a fibre enters your lungs) for which there is no use, spill oils and cause enormous air pollution just for steel? Should a rising power like India still extract steel in these ways and this cost?

In India, we can’t breathe the air several weeks a year, and we can’t drink the water.

We certainly cannot afford to add to our pollution load. Yet, that is exactly what has happened in Alang. It must be undone, if nothing else then to preserve the natural heritage of Gujarat for future generations.