The Gujarat Maritime Board has asked French authorities to send technical experts with modern equipment to the Alang ship-breaking yard, where asbestos-laden French warship Clemenceau is to be scrapped.

A GMB spokesman said the officer in charge of the Ship Decontaminating Industry Corporation of France [Images] is arriving in India soon to discuss environmental issues concerning New Delhi.

GMB Chief Executive Officer H K Dash said, "We have also asked the French technical experts to train the workers on how to remove the asbestos from the ship."

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Hence, there was no need to be concerned over any environmental issues, he added.

A French diplomatic team had arrived recently to convince the GMB that the hazardous substance the ship contains was within the permissible limit.

The team informed the GMB authorities that 150 tons of asbestos had already been removed from the ship and only 40 tonnes, without which the vessel would be unfit to sail, remained.

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The GMB has completed construction of an Integrated Waste Management facility, called the Treatment Storage and Disposal Facility, at a cost of over Rs 4 crore to handle hazardous wastes, Dash said.

The TSDF includes landfill for disposal of asbestos and glass wool waste, landfill for disposal of industrial and chemical solid waste and landfill for disposal of municipal solid waste.

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"We will give beaching permission for the aircraft carrier only after we get the necessary clearance from Gujarat Pollution Control Board, apex court and other authorities," Dash said.

"We will come into the picture only after we get a no-objection certificate from the concerned authorities," he added.