The refusal by A. Raja, India's Union Minister for Environment and Forests refusal to return the toxic ship Frederik alias Ricky to Denmark has been condemned by the Environmental and labour groups. in his response to ' request for the recall of rogue ship illegaly beached at Alang for scrapping. Meanwhile Danish Foreign Minister, Per Stig Moller has contacted the Indian foreign ministry to intervene in the matter.

In his letter the Indian Minister wrote to Connie Hedegaards his Danish counterpart, "We have determined that the ship cannot be classified as "Wastes" within the scope of Act 2.1 of the Basel Convention." And "I would like to assure you that India has adequate capacity to ensure environmentally sound disposal of the said ship." It must be noted that the above two quotes are in direct contradiction to each other. Article 2.1 of the Basel Convention defines waste as "substances or objects which are disposed of or are intended to be disposed of or are required to be disposed of by the provisions of national law;" Raja has inadvertently stated the obvious, that the ship in question is to be disposed. Thus, it is a waste as defined in the Convention." clarified Jim Puckett of Basel Action Network.

Denmark considers Ricky to be a hazardous waste, which in itself is sufficient legal basis for India to be obliged to consider it such as well.

Besides, the ship left Denmark without proper notification. They do not have any legal justification for ignoring another Basel party's law, Denmark. Raja is making this claim to protect the global shipping industry's commercial interests in preventing the controls stipulated by international law, allege environmentalists.

It is widely recognised that the beaches at Alang do not represent Environmentally Sound Management (ESM) of wastes as defined in the Convention. This is precisely why the Basel Convention produced Guidelines for the ESM for the full and partial dismantling of ships which specified steps by which the existing yards found in India and in other developing countries are to undertake in order to fulfil the objective of environmentally sound management.

Indeed throughout the negotiations of these guidelines delegates from India, Pakistan or Bangladesh never made the claim that the South Asian beaches are considered environmentally sound management.

For Raja to make this statement now begs the question as to where his office has been for the last 10 years. While it may not be politically correct to state it , it is a well known fact that the beach shipbreaking yards of South Asia cannot be considered ESM under the Convention. The Convention defines ESM broadly as: "taking all practicable steps to ensure that hazardous wastes or other wastes are managed in a manner which will protect human health and the environment against the adverse effects which may result from such wastes."