SCMC meets to decide on Clemenceau's entry

Meanwhile, the SCMC Chairman wondered why the French government did not take the toxic French ship back and end its agony.

The Supreme Court Monitoring Committee (SCMC) on Monday met to decide whether to permit the decommissioned French Naval Vessel Clemenceau to enter into India for dismantling.

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Meanwhile, SCMC Chairman Dr G Thyagarajan wondered why the French government did not take the toxic French ship back and end its agony.

"The ship, which has done so much service for the country ... Why should it go through all this humiliation", he told mediapersons here after the meeting, being attended by scientists, environmentalists and bureaucrats, which adjourned for lunch.

"Can't France end its (ship's) agony by taking it back", he said.

Following strong protests by environmentalists both here and in France over allowing the ship to dock at Alang in Gujarat to be dismantled, the Supreme Court had fixed February 13 for hearing the matter after recording an assurance given by the Shipping Decommissioning Industry Corporation (SDIC), a Panama registered company.

The company had assured it would not permit Clemenceau to enter the Indian Exclusive Economic Zone (220 nautical miles) till the court took a decision on the basis of the SCMC report.