The MoEF had earlier constituted a technical team to inspect the US ship.
The Centre on Monday asked the Gujarat government not to allow beaching and breaking of 'Platinum II', the US ship anchored off Alang port, as a technical team has found high levels of toxic material and radioactive substances in it. In a letter to the Gujarat Maritime Board (GMB), Dr Saroj, director of Union Ministry of Environment & Forests (MoEF) said the ship 'Platinum-II' violated the United States Toxic Substances Control Act. There are allegations that the ship has been brought into India with a falsified flag and registry.
"In light of these facts and in keeping with the Precautionary Principle, the Ministry of Environment and Forest is of the view that granting permission for beaching and breaking purpose of the ship will not be advisable," the letter said.
The MoEF had constituted a technical team to conduct an inspection of the ship. The team visited the ship on 20 October and submitted their report to the ministry on October 26. In its report, the five-member team said all hazardous waste like asbestos-containing material (ACM) and polychlorinated biphenyl (PCB) and radioactive material were found to be present in the ship in its structure as is prevalent in any ship of this type.
MoEF's letter also asked the GMB to investigate the allegations that the ship has been brought to India with a falsified flag and registry.
The letter, also marked to the member secretary of Gujarat Pollution Control Board, said the ministry should be kept informed on this matter.
Earlier, the report of the technical team said 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."
Regional officer of Gujarat Pollution Control Board, Bhavnagar, GV Patel said that in view of the environment ministry statement, the ship cannot be broken up in Alang, further action is awaited.
The statement has put Asia's largest ship-breaking industry back in the spotlight following a previous scandal over the French warship Le Clemenceau. The asbestos-laden French aircraft carrier was turned away from the Alang yard, the world's biggest such facility, in 2006 because of concerns it would endanger the lives of scrapyard workers.
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