Blue Lady Report in Parliament

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Amid massive uproar due to Indo-US nuclear deal, the Parliamentary Petitions Committee headed by Prabhunath Singh has tabled a report in the Lok Sabha (Lower House of Parliament) on 22 August that has gone into details regarding ship-breaking activities and dumping of toxic waste in the sea in general and the Blue Lady ship in particular.

The Parliamentary Petitions Committee has admonished the Ministry of Environment and Forests for "failing to address" the issue of dumping of toxic waste and ship-breaking activities in the country and asked it to frame a national policy in the matter at the earliest.

The committee has looked into the petition from the Platform with regard to government’s permission for dismantling of Blue Lady ship carrying hazardous waste in violation of a Supreme Court order.

It has taken a position that even the hazardous material, which is inbuilt in the ship, is hazardous waste and sought a national policy that can regulate all such activities including dumping of waste and establish world-class facilities for management and disposal of hazardous material such as asbestos and PCBs.

The matter is likely to be raised again in the parliament with specific reference to radioactive material on the ship at 5500 places that has not been disclosed by the Technical Committee of the Supreme Court.

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