'Doomsday Prophecy' Triggers Panic In India

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Reuters

Friday, May 7, 1999

Sunil Kataria

 

NEW DELHI (Reuters) - Thousands of workers have fled India's largest

shipbreaking yard in panic following predictions of an impending apocalypse,

officials said Friday.

 

The Alang shipbreaking yard in the western state of Gujarat has been deserted

following strong rumors about a ``doomsday'' catastrophe befalling the area

Saturday.

 

The mass exodus began after the publication of an astrological article in a

New Delhi-based magazine which predicted that a coastal town would be

submerged in water.

 

A cyclone slammed into Gujarat from the sea last June, killing at least 1,000

people.

 

Officials at Alang said work had been paralyzed at more than 170 yards and

shops in the district had pulled their shutters down.

 

``We don't even have skeleton staff,'' port officer-in-charge G.R. Jadeja told

Reuters by phone, adding that of a total workforce of nearly 25,000 people,

20,000 had fled.

 

India buys 40 percent of ships destined for scrapyards in international

markets and Alang alone accounts for 95 percent share of the ships that are

broken up in the country.

 

Nitin Kanakiya, a shipbreaker at Alang, told Reuters Television Network:

``There is a booklet which stated that there will be a cyclone on May 8.

Though it has not specified any location, but the workforce here is going back

to their home places.''

 

Scientists and astrologers said the prediction of a doomsday was a hoax.

 

``Scientifically speaking the report is totally false,'' said Sanath Kumar,

planetarium educator in New Delhi's Nehru Planetarium.

 

``There is absolutely nothing in the position of stars or planets to suggest

any kind of a mishap.''

 

Parth Bhattacharya, a New Delhi-based astrologer, was also dismissive. ``It is

not true at all. As far as my calculation is concerned I don't see any such

thing happening.''

 

Subodh Kumar, secretary of the Gujarat Shipbreakers Association, said the

industry had lost $35 million due to the near-stoppage.

 

The industry stood to lose about $60 million more due to non-availability of

labor, he said.