For the extraordinary delay in constructing the promised labour colony for migrant workers engaged at Alang, Asia's largest ship breaking yard, the Supreme Court-appointed Inter Ministerial Committee (IMC) on ship-breaking has come down heavily on the Gujarat Maritime Board (GMB).
In an IMC meeting which concluded recently at Delhi, chairman of IMC, BS Meena has asked GMB to clarify why work on the labour colony was suffering from such a sluggish pace. The GMB officials stated that they had acquired the land, and construction work was yet to begin. However, the chairman expressed his dissatisfaction at the reply since it could not justify the poor progress made in two years.
Incidentally, the GMB has collected over Rs7.5 crore during the last two years from different ship breaking industrialists towards construction of the housing facilities, which however, is lying idle at present. The GMB officials have agreed to start construction of 3,000 dwelling units in the first instance, work for which would begin in December and will be completed within 18 months.
