The wait for the controversial US passenger ship Platinum II off the Bhavnagar coast may just get longer. For, the Central team inspection report though confirms presence of various toxic substances, it is finding difficult to make quantitative analysis of the hazardous material.

Following the team’s report, environmental groups are demanding that the ship must be sent back to its original country. But the Gujarat Maritime Board and Gujarat Pollution Control Board are awaiting the decision of the Ministry of Forest and Environment (MoFE). “It’s the MoEF to take a decision on the report. As of now, the department has not received any communiqué from the ministry,” said S K Nanda, Principal Secretary (Forest).

“As the material is not in the loose form, its quantitative analysis is difficult,” he added.

The memorandum by the ministry ordering the inspection on October 16 had clearly mentioned that the inspection team shall make the quantitative and qualitative assessments of all the hazardous materials, including asbestos, poly-chlorineted-biphenlys (PCBs) and radioactive material.

In its report, the team mentioned the presence of these materials on board, but could not do the quantitative assessment of PCBs.

The report said that complete physical verification of the ship was not possible. “The inspection team comprised untrained experts (who were) not conversant with climbing to the top of ship using monkey ladder,” the team cited this as the reason for its inability to inspect the top of the nine-deck passenger ocean liner.

The inspection team, led by A Das, Industry Advisors to the Steel Ministry, had visited the ship anchored off the Bhavnagar coast near Gopnath on October 20 following allegations by NGO Indian Platform for Ship Breaking (IPSB) that it contains hazardous substance and should not be allowed to get dismantled.

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