The owner of Platinum II, Komalkant Sharma, has sought directions from Gujarat Pollution Control Board (GPCB) as well as the Gujarat Maritime Board (GMB) to beach the ship at the Alang Ship Breaking Yard. Even a fortnight after the Centre gave a clean chit to the ship that was alleged to have hazardous material on board, it is still anchored off the Bhavnagar coast.

The state authorities have said they have not received details of the report from the Central team. On Tuesday, Sharma wrote to the GPCB and GMB to check the status of his vessel anchored off the Gopnath coast, some 25 km from Alang, even as the state environment ministry failed to explain the delay.

Following environmental concerns raised by activists, a three-member team led by S A Das, the industrial advisor to the Ministry of Steel, had inspected the vessel on October 20, 15 days after it was given permission to beach at Alang. The team submitted its report on October 23.

“We cannot explain the delay by the Centre in announcing the decision. We have learnt that the inspection team’s report did not differ from the report submitted by the GPCB,” said S K Nanda, State Principal Secretary, Forest and Environment Department.

He added: “The GPCB report clearly said the ship does contain hazardous material in the form of asbestos and PCB, but not in a loose form and it can be removed safely as per the Supreme Court guidelines. Besides, the report categorically denied the presence of radioactive material, as alleged by some groups.”

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