GADDANI was once known as the final destination of discarded ships that would be declared unfit for further voyage. They would be brought here to be broken into ‘scraps’, which catered to the needs of the re-rolling industry of the country. Gaddani is now losing its charm.
Scrap is the basic raw material source for the re-rolling industry which uses it to make low-cost iron rods, girders, pipes etc. Here, it has to be mentioned that the ship-breaking industry, which used to be the source of earning for thousands of people in the late ‘70s, is now fast vanishing from the Gaddani beach.
The ship-breaking activity at Gaddani has hit rock bottom in the last few years. This can be gauged from the fact that at present only four ships are berthed at the ship-breaking yard as against the time of its glory when a large number of ships would be anchored at the outer anchorage to wait for their berthing turn. The 127 yards would always be occupied by ships.
The slump can be put down to the discouraging policies of the government of allowing duty-free import of re-rollable scrap, iron bars, and billets, coupled with the rising prices of ships in the international market. As a result, thousands of workers have been rendered jobless, aggravating the situation of unemployment in Balochistan.
Gaddani has a natural beach which gives it an edge in the ship-breaking activity over India, China and Bangladesh, and due to sheer negligence on the part of the government no new investment is being made in this industry. Investors feel the government is not taking the required measures to rectify the situation.
In the late ’70s, the ship-breaking industry provided livelihood to about 20,000 people. These days, only few hundred are associated with this field who on an average earn Rs80 to Rs160 per day. And its also disappointing to know that no safety measures are taken at ship-breaking yards to protect the lives of the labourers, who are not entitled to any facility.
GADDANI was once known as the final destination of discarded ships that would be declared unfit for further voyage. They would be brought here to be broken into ‘scraps’, which catered to the needs of the re-rolling industry of the country. Gaddani is now losing its charm.
