With industries reopening in Gujarat after a complete 21-day lockdown in view of coronavirus outbreak, one of the largest ship-breaking yards in the world at Alang in Bhavnagar district has started to return to its pre-virus business with nearly 60 units (ship-breaking yards) resuming work in the past couple of days.
Officials said that on Wednesday early morning, a vessel named "Seafrost" was beached for the first time for demolition, after reopening, bringing some hope for better days ahead for yard owners and thousands of migrant workers who are dependent on the business that had been halted in view of the Covid-19 infection spreading rapidly in the state.
Officials said that there are six other vessels, anchored close to the shipyard, awaiting procedures to be followed before being beached. Among these vessels are Adtiya1, West Scent, Lan Wan, Melanesian Pride, Kweilin and Manolis P.
Senior officials said that these vessels are waiting at the outer anchorage for procedures to be followed for immigration clearance and a nod from customs and Gujarat Pollution Control Board (GPCB) before Gujarat Maritime Board (GMB), the state-run regulator that has administrative control over the shipyard, would give the final beaching permission.
Vice-chairman and chief executive officer, GMB, Mukesh Kumar said, "The business is back at the world's largest ship recycling yard in Alang. An oil tanker named "Seafrost" weighing 17,012 tons and 142.94 metres in length was beached early on Wednesday."
Alang port officials further said that since April 20, when the state government announced the reopening of industries, mostly in rural parts of the state, 60 units or yards (ship breakers) have resumed their work till Wednesday.
Alang-Sosiya Ship Recycling Yard, as it is called, has over 150 yards, of which around 130 are operational.
Captain Arvind Mishra, port officer, told DH, "When the lockdown was announced, there were nearly 60 yards which were functional. Today, we are almost back to pre-virus time. We are following all the conditions which were mandated to reopening such as keeping safe social distancing, hygiene, among others."
The reopening has brought some relief to thousands of workers, mostly migrants from all over the country, who had been rendered jobless after the lockdown and wanted to leave for their natives.
Many had complained that their employers were not paying salaries. Following the reports, Bhavnagar district administration with the help of NGOs distributed over 10,000 ration kits to these workers.
Vishnu Gupta, President of Ship Recycling Industries Association, claimed, "We took care of the workers and no one left during the lockdown. The business has started and we hope it will be back to normal soon."
According to officials, since 2019 till March 31 this year, over 200 vessels were beached at the shipyard spread in over 10 km coastline. The shipyard has remained unaffected with the coronavirus outbreak while Bhavnagar city has reported 32 positive cases and five deaths. Gujarat as a whole has reported more than 2,400 cases with 103 deaths by Wednesday.