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Dismantling of INS Viraat
Why is it in News?
- The world’s longest serving warship, INS Viraat will be dismantled at Alang
Details:
- It holds the Guinness record for the world’s longest-serving warship.
- Alang is the world’s largest ship breaking yard.
- Environmental risks of ship breaking:
(1) Large amounts of carcinogens and toxic substances (PCBs, PVCs, PAHs, TBT, mercury, lead, isocyanates, sulfuric acid) not only intoxicate workers but are also dumped into the soil and coastal waters.
(2) Ecologically-important mangrove forests have been cut down to provide space for water-craft disassembly.
(3) India passes the planned "Recycling of Ships Act, 2019" which ratifies the Hong Kong International Convention for the safe and environmentally sound recycling of ships.
- The Basel Convention on the Control of Trans-boundary Movements of Hazardous Wastes and Their Disposal of 1989:
(1) It aims to stop the transportation of dangerous substances to less developed countries.