Was honey trap used to sell asbestos laden Russian ship to India? IMO has banned use of asbestos in ships
Environmental advocacy groups had expressed concern over reported use of asbestos-based insulation in the warship.Given the health hazards that asbestos poses and the fact that International Maritime Organisation (IMO), of which India is a member state since 1959, has banned installation of all types of asbestos-containing materials as of January 1, 2011, ToxicsWatch had expressed its dismay over India’s willingness to accept use of asbestos in the aircraft carrier’s insulation in the boiler section.
Sukhjinder Singh, a Captain of Indian Navy, a Colonel rank officer was heading a 25-member team of Indian personnel was supervising the repair and refit of aircraft carrier Admiral Gorshkov, renamed as INS Vikramaditya. India had to pay $2.33 billion for the warship instead of $974-million, as originally contracted in 2004.
The cost escalation faced criticism in Parliament and from the Comptroller Auditor General of India.
Later, it was reported that Singh was caught in what seemed to be a honey trap in Russia. A high-level Board of Inquiry (BoI) had reportedly established that, Singh, a married man, had an illicit sexual relationship with a yet unidentified Russian woman sometime in 2005-07. During that period posted as the head of the Indian observation group at Russia's 1059 Military Station in Severodvinsk, a port city in the north-western Russia. In April 2011, union government had approved his sacking. It seems instead of being sacked, he retired from Indian Navy. It is also appears from the news report that he was married to the Russian woman.
India and Russia had signed the original $947 million dollar deal in 2005 for the purchase of the carrier, but delivery has already been delayed twice, pushing up the cost of refurbishing the ship to $2.3 billion.
The Vikramaditya was originally built as the Soviet Project 1143.4 class aircraft carrier Admiral Gorshkov. The Project 1143.4 carriers and a class of destroyers with the same engines suffered a history of boiler failures during their service lives. This ship was laden with asbestos.
The ship was laid down in 1978 at the Nikolayev South shipyard in Ukraine, launched in 1982, and commissioned with the Soviet Navy in 1987. It was renamed after the Soviet Union collapsed in 1991. In 1994, the Gorshkov sat in dock for a year for repairs after a boiler room explosion. In 1995, it was briefly returned to service but was finally withdrawn and put up for sale in 1996.
International Convention for the Safety of Life at Sea (SOLAS), 1974 of International Maritime Organization (IMO) was amended on December 6, 2000 to ban use of asbestos in ships. The amendment came into force on July 1, 2002.
For ships built before July 1, 2002
In accordance with SOLAS, ships built before July 1,2002 may contain asbestos, but it should be managed properly - further guidance is available in MSC/Circ.1045 Guidelines for Maintenance and Monitoring of On-Board Materials Containing Asbestos.
For ships built between July 1 2002 and January 1 2011
SOLAS was amended in December 2000. The new regulation in SOLAS Chapter II-1 (Construction - Structure, subdivision and stability, machinery and electrical installations). It prohibits the new installation of materials which contain asbestos on all ships.
Regulation 3-5 New installation of materials containing asbestos states that the regulation shall apply to materials used for the structure, machinery, electrical installations and equipment covered by the SOLAS Convention.
For all ships, new installation of materials which contain asbestos shall be prohibited except for:
vanes used in rotary vane compressors and rotary vane vacuum pumps;
watertight joints and linings used for the circulation of fluids when, at high temperature (in excess of 350ºC) or pressure (in excess of 7 x 106 Pa), there is a risk of fire, corrosion or toxicity; and supple and flexible thermal insulation assemblies used for temperatures above 1000ºC.
For ships built after 1 January 2011
The 2009 Amendments to SOLAS (resolution MSC.282(86)), further amended the text to prohibit all new installation of asbestos on board ships. These came into force on January 1 2011;
Part A-1 Structure of Ship
Regulation 3-5 - New installation of materials containing asbestos
The existing text of paragraph 2 is replaced by the following;
"From 1 January 2011, for all ships, new installation of materials which contain asbestos shall be prohibited".
Information regarding asbestos on ships is available in the following circulars:
IMO MSC.1/Circ.1379 Unified Interpretation of SOLAS Regulation II-1/3-5 (concerning asbestos in stores)
IMO MSC.1/Circ.1426 Unified Interpretation of SOLAS Regulation II-1/3-5 (concerning likely components, evidence and documentation)
IMO MSC.1/Circ.1374 Information on Prohibiting the Use of Asbestos on board ships (includes how to manage asbestos found on ships not in compliance with SOLAS)
