Evidence of Radioactive Material on Blue Lady

New evidence submitted by the former projectmanager of SS Norway (Blue Lady) reveals that the toxic ship-for-scraprenamed Blue Lady and currently anchored 4000 feet off Alang coast hasradioactive material on board in at least 5500 fire detection points.

Americium 241 – a radioactive substance – concentrates in the bone,liver and muscle and can expose surrounding tissues to radiation,thereby increasing the risk of cancer. Ironically, this finding wasmade months after the Supreme Court-appointed Committee of TechnicalExperts (CTE) opined "the presence of radioactive materials in apassenger ship like "Blue Lady" is quite unlikely."

The new evidence exposes the shoddy state of science in this country. A body of experts appointed by the apex Court of the countryconfidently, and without evidence, rules on a subject that hasfar-ranging implications on worker health and environment."

Supreme Court in the matter of Ship Breaking dealing with"Decontamination of ships before they are exported to India forbreaking", has specifically directed that "Before a ship arrives atport, it should have proper consent from the authority concerned orthe State Maritime Board, stating that it does not contain anyhazardous waste or radioactive substances. AERB should be consulted inthe matter in appropriate cases." There has been no compliance ofthese directions in the case of Blue Lady. No one has been punishedfor this lapse till date.

"The ship admittedly contains more than 1200 tons of asbestos,significant quantities of carcinogenic polychlorinated biphenyls(PCBs) and other heavy-metal-laden substances. Export of such ships tonon-OECD countries violates the Basel Convention. However, India hasrefused to challenge such imports despite the abysmal environment andsafety record at its ship-breaking yard in Alang."

The Final Report of CTE submitted to the apex court notes, "theaverage annual incidence of fatal accidents in ship breaking industryis 2.0 per 1000 workers while the All India incidence of fatalaccidents during the same period in mining industry, which isconsidered to be the most accident prone industries, is 0.34per 1000workers."

The Final Report also notes of asbestos victims in the ship-breakingindustry and cites the "Medical Examination of the Asbestos Handlers"by a team of National Institute of Occupational Health (NIOH) thatconcludes, " The X ray examination by NIOH showed linear shadows onchest X rays of 15 (16 %) of 94 workers occupationally exposed toasbestos. These are consistent with asbestosis…" but has failed torecommend any compensation as is required as per court's directions.

"In such a context the imminent contamination from Americium-241 canoccur to people/workers who work at or near a contaminated sidethrough ingestion of food and water, or by inhalation is alarming."

When inhaled, some Americium-241 remains in the lungs, depending uponthe particle size and the chemical form of the Americium compound. Thechemical forms that dissolve easily may pass into the bloodstream fromthe lungs. The chemical forms that dissolve less easily tend to remainin the lungs, or are coughed up through the lung's natural defensesystem, and swallowed. From the stomach, swallowed Americium maydissolve and pass into the bloodstream. That Americium-241 poses a significant risk if ingested (swallowed) orinhaled. It can stay in the body for decades and continue to exposethe surrounding tissues to both alpha and gamma radiation, increasingthe risk of developing cancer. Americium-241 also poses a cancer riskto all organs of the body from direct external exposure to its gammaradiation. Neither the Dismantling Plan submitted by the buyers of theship nor any of the Reports/Affidavits by the Technical Committee orEnvironment Ministry envisage safe removal/destruction of suchradioactive substances contained in the Blue Lady.

For details: H Mahadevan (AITUC), 9818120885, P K Ganguly (CITU),9968214082, Gopal Krishna (Platform on Shipbreaking), 9818089660

An Open Letter to Harsh and all concern persons

Aadarneey Harsh Sir,
Namaskar.

Yah sambhavtah mera antim patra hi hoga aapke liye kyonki aap jante hain Aman Biradari me jis tarah ke haalaat hain usme kisi seedhe-sachche aadmi ke liye na to pahle kam ke anukool sthitiyan thi aur na ab hai. Maine apne warishth sahkarmiyon ko jis bhayanak manahsthiti se guzarte aur aakhirkar apne sabse pasandeeda kam se khud ko alag karte dekha hai mai shayad uspar vishvas bhi nahi kar paata agar mera apna anubhav usse kuchh behtar hota.
Aapke saath judte waqt jis aadarsh ko maine apne jeevan ka aakashdeep banaya tha use khud aapne aur aapki chatukar mandali ne dharashayee kar diya hai. Aapke akushal margdarshan, nishthavan sathiyon ke sath chhal, keertan karne wale karmiyon ki taazposhi, sadak ke bachchon ke sath dhokha karne ki neeyat ( jo Sarai Basti ke anubhav ne sabit kar hi diya hai –(1) ki jo khana aapne sadak ke bachcho ko khilaya waisa khana aap apne bachcho ko kabhi nahi khila sakte the (2) Sarai Basti hostel ka ab ek saal poora hone wala hai par aajtak padhai-likhai, khel-kood, recreation, counseling, drug de-addiction jaisi gatividhiyan shuru nahi ho payi.(3) aaj tak hostel me sabhi buniyadi suvidhaen muhaiya nahi karai gayi jaise paani, toilet, bathroom, medicine wagairah. Jin bachchon ka swasthya zyada bigad gaya , jo ki hona hi tha, unse pind chhudane me hi aap aur aapki mandali apni qabiliyat dikhati rahi- kai bachchon ko aapne baal sudhar grihon me bhijwa diya pata nahi unme se kitne aaj jeevit bache hain.)
Maine hamesha yahan yahi dekha ki kabhi bhi karmiyon ko samay par mandey nahi diya gaya,jabki aap hamesha yah batate rahe ki AIF, DELHI GOVT. JAMAYATE-ULEMA-E-HIND se hame bharpoor paisa mil raha hai .Mai to fir bhi naya tha par mere purane sathi bhi kabhi yah jan nahi sake itna sara paisa aakhir kahan aur kaise kharch ho raha hai. Mujhe to kewal 2000 rs milte the par yahan tamam puraane sahkarmi jo Post Graduate the ya hain aur jinme se kuchh ke parivar bhi hain jo delhi me kiraye par rahte hain, ko kewal 5000 rs me 18-20 ghante kam karate hue bhi janwaron jaisa salook karma aapke nyaypoorn aur manveey duniya banana ke abhiyan ka kaun sa chehra hai yah aap hi behtar jante honge .
April ke maheene me , mai kabhi bhool nahi sakta,1 poorva Aman Sathi dwara ek 5 maheene se garbhavati,2 saal ke bachche wali nirashrit aurat ko Sarai Basti hostel me aashray dene par aapne jis tarah ka toofan khada kiya tha aur us saathi ko bagair sans tak lene ka mauka diye yah kaha tha ki us aurat ko fauran bahar nikalo usne mujhe hi nahi sare sathiyon ko dahla diya tha. Aapne aisi sthiti bana di thi jiske karan antatah us aurat ko dubara sadak par jana pada.Bachhon ki duhai dekar jo aashray aapne hasil kiya hai wahan se 2 saal ke us museebatzada bachche ko nikalne me aapne sari seemaen par kar li.Us aurat ka kya hua yah to pata nahi han un sathi ko aapne zaroor sangathan chhodne ko majboor kar diya jinki ekmatra galati yah thi ki we aapki tarah kathni kuchh aur karni kuchh ke siddhant se samjhauta karne ki bajay mit jana achchha samajhte the.
Aap jo soochna ke adhikar/gareebon ke adhikar/rozgar ke adhikar……..ke liye bat karte hain,aapse yah sawal hona chahiye ki jo log aapke saath 2 sal se /tak kam karte rahe unki sewa sharten kya hain/thi ?Yah spasht kyon nahi hai ?Kya kewal is bat ki suvidha ke liye nahi ki aap jab chahen kisi ko bula kar nikal saken? Maine suna hai ki Aman Biradari ek Trust hai.Kya aapne kabhi is Trust me Sewa-Sharton par bat/bahas ki ?Kya aap yah bata pane ki sthiti me hain ki Aman Biradari me sewa sambandhi sare nirnay kis prakriya ke tahat liye jate hain ?
8 maheenon ka mera jo anubhav hai usme mere liye ekmatra santosh hai ki maine bachchon ke sath kam kiya. Iske alawa daftar aur aapke prashashan ka anubhav nirantar yantrana dene wala raha. Sangathan ka prashashanik dhancha ekdam a-spasht hai. Sare nirnay jo Aman Biradari me hote hain- kya CES me tay hote hain ya kahi aur liye jate hain ? Is sambandh me koi pardarshita kyon nahi hai ?
Pichhle dino aap un sare logon ko jo field me kam karte rahe hain/the a-sthir karte rahe hain- tabadala karte rahe-sangathan se nikalne ko majboor karte rahe-yah karte hue kya aapne ek bar bhi un bachchon ke bare me socha jinke sath sambandh banane me salon ka waqt laga ?
Aapke sath ek to wah team thi-10-12 logon ki jisne sangathan ko khada kiya- doosri taraf ek bilkul nayi team hai jise aapne prashashak ki bhoomika me khada kar diya aur we baqi logo ko hankte-hankte sangathan se bahar tak hank aae ! Taajjub hai aap samoohikta ki bhi bat karte hain ! Lakh joojhne ke bawazood Aman Sathi ye nahi jan sake ki unki kanooni haisiyat is sangathan me kya hai-bhageedar ki- naukar ki ya kuchh aur ?
Aapke bat karne ka tareeka kabhi ek nahi raha . Kabhi aap akele bulakar bat karte hain, kabhi aapka prashashan akele bulakar bat karta hai-mujhe lagta hai ki ye sari baten sarvajanik mahatva ki hain, atah inhen logon ke samne aani chahiye . Aapko yah tay karna chahiye ki jo kam aap nahi kar sakte –ya nahi kar pa rahe hain, use aap nahi karenge . Aap adhik se adhik ek aksham prashashak ho sakte hain jisne cheezon ko uljha diya . Aap bataen ki vigat 2 sal me aap kitni baar bachchon ke beech shareerik roop se upasthit hue ? 8 maheeno ke darmyan aap mere field me kewal ek bar hi aae .
Kahne ko to itni baten hain ki ……… …par mai samajhta hun iska koi asar nahi honewala hai kyonki jahan agende par jhooth, swarthparta, chatukarita pahle se prathmikta ke sath upasthit ho wahan ek adna aadmi kya kar paega…………..kya kar paya hai aajtak?
Saartah itna kahoonga ki mai ab aage us andhi gali me jane se inkar karta hun jisme aap sambhavnasheel naujawanon ki ek peedhi ko, aur beghar-besahara bachchon ki sambhavnaon ko dhakelte hue liye ja rahe hain is vishvas ke saath ki aapke maseeha banne me ye qurbaniyan zaroori hain . Aapki yah jeet aapko mubarak ho………..Mai is campaign(?) se khud ko poorntaya alag kar raha hun.
Ant me mai aapse is bat ke liye mafi chahta hun ki mai ye patra sarvajanik kar raha hun . Par meri sadichchha is campaign ko bachane ki hai , isliye aisa karna meri majboori hai . Ek aam aadmi ke pas vuirodh ka isse ahimsak tareeka kya ho sakta tha ?
Saadar,
Abhishek Sharma
Aman Sathi.

Email-asdilse@gmail.com
Mob-9312364054.

Sardar Sarovar Rehabilitation: The Biggest Land Scam Exposed

Land deals worth crores of rupees are investigated and found to be fake, in the case of rehabilitation work with Sardar Sarovar Dam affected families. A lobby of corrupt officials, some local advocates and a few villagers has conspired with support from the politicians to empty the state exchequer over the last few years. This has cheated the affected farmer families and expropriated the money exchanged in the name of rehabilitation. At least 150 registries are located and investigated by Andolan members, farmers who have stuck to principle & remained faithful & truthful, to find the horrifying story of fake sellers, fake survey numbers and false deeds signed by registrars with even fake witnesses. In the village of Udaipur, tehsil-Jhirnya (district-Khargaon), a non-adivasi seller who is neither a resident nor even existent, as appears to be. In some cases, Government land is sold out as 'private' & in others, the survey number is itself false & hence land is non-existent. (DETAILS PREPARED ON EXCEL FILE CAN BE SEND ON REQUEST BY E-MAIL) The Narmada Water Dispute Tribunal Award (NWDTA) has provided for land-based rehabilitation of every farmer family who is to lose more than 25% of land due to Sardar Sarovar Dam. M.P. Government never offered any cultivable land, violated the law and instead passed orders under newly introduced policy measures that cash may be paid in lieu of land. While Gujarat & Maharashtra Government have been compelled to offer & allot land to the oustees, even if after much struggle, M.P., the state with maximum submergence and related displacement, has absolutely refused to follow law. The Illegal payment of cash was used as a tool to lure people to sign off their right & claim - 'land for land.' The indebted farmers in the plains of Nimad were also told by the 'agents' that they can get pure cash without even actually buying land; no doubt one or two lakhs out of 5.5 lakhs compensation per person was pocketed by them. Moreover, when the odd rule of the Government required that the On the other hand, those who paid a signing amount as advance couldn't get the second installment & hence lost the amount when the conditional time limit put forth by the seller got over. This was seen as an opportunity by the corrupt officials, their agents-advocates to pull the family into resorting to false registries with no land in hand & only getting cash, to be expensed soon. The Project Affected Families are thus losing and much of cash in the same and will come out a pauper. Moreover, they would be proved criminal when the real owner didn't desire to sell his land but same was undertaken with false photo and signature put up by the agents. A few of the affected families were also jailed to save the real culprits following which a few FIRs are filed by the cheated farmers. When Shunglu Committee, 2006 (appointed by Prime Minister) chaired by the former Comptroller & Auditor General of India was assigned the task of investigation into R&R in Sardar Sarovar, he was briefed by none else but Prof. Upendra Baxi, Advocates Sanjay Parikh, Prashant Bhushan and a team of NBA activists along with affected people, giving few examples. But OSG Report (By Shunglu and others) kept mum. Moreover, the NCA, Central authority too didn't take up the task of enquiry, nor did GRAs take cognizance of our complaint. This encouraged the expropriators to continue the open loot. The Government of M.P. and the Narmada Valley Development Authority (NVDA) has been reporting to the Centre as well as the apex court that out of about 4,000 farmers who accepted the special cash package (SRP), about 2,500 farmers have purchased land and hence SRP is proved to be successful. They sold this argument to Shunglu Committee as well as the Grievance Redressal Authority chaired by a former judge. NBA AND THE AFFECTED PEOPLE CONTINUED TO BRING OUT THE FACT THAT THERE ARE STILL MORE THAN 40,000 FAMILIES (2 LAKHS PLUS PEOPLE) IN THE SSP SUBMERGENCE AND NOT LESS THAN 10,000 FAMILIES WILL BE ENTITLED TO LAND. When there is no land available and private land is not purchased by M.P. Government; Maharashtra too has left out more than 1,000 adivasi families till date; Gujarat is refusing to change uncultivable lands allotted, thousands of families are to face landlessness against the law and judgments. The tragedy, however, is that the apex court also does not question the illegal policy of SRP and stop the practice with urgency. Today, the falsehood of data, based on false registries, presented in affidavits, also brings in the charge of perjury against the State authorities. Through the pending petitions by the affected people, including the contempt of court petition against Chairpersons of NVDA and NCA, legal action will have to be taken further. One more petition before the Supreme Court is filed by ten eminent persons as concerned citizens questioning SRP, which is being pleaded by Prof. Baxi himself. The petitioners include Sri. Kuldip Nayyar, Smt. Aruna Roy, Swami Agnivesh, B.D. Sharma, Ramaswamy Iyer, Harsh Mandar and others. Having exposed the massive corruption and the illegality leading to serious violations of human rights, the farmers themselves have now begun filing FIRs against the betrayers. .Will there be an immediate and impartial enquiry into the scandal?.Beyond 39 officials-employees were suspended for corruption, will others-Land Acquisition & Rehabilitation officers, Bank officials, Registrars to Collectors and Advocates, who all are involved, be put behind bars? .Will the illegal policy of paying cash instead of land be withdrawn?.Will the cheated farmers and adivasis, who remained untouched by lure and scare be provided land?.Will the Centre and its authorities and also the Judiciary realize that they too were cheated through false reports and affidavits and take due legal action? .Will there be realization that big dams, whether Tehri or Narmada, are monuments of corruption more than a progress and look up to the alternatives? We hope all our supporters and conscientious citizens, media persons will raise the issues and help us to get the guilty punished.


By
Ashish Mandloi Ramesh Yadav Ranvirsingh Tomar Dayaram Patel Devendsingh Tomar Medha Patkar