The containers of waste oil, considered a hazardous waste under
the Basel Convention, arrived in India between July and September
this year labelled as "furnace oil." A May 1997 Supreme Court order
prohibits the import of hazardous wastes, including waste oil, into
India.
In an interview to Mumbai-based publication, Terra Firma, the
Jawaharlal Nehru Port Trust Chairman, Mr. M.P.Pinto, is quoted as
saying that if the Customs comes to know that shipments are
hazardous wastes, they will return it to the exporter. Greenpeace
and Basel Action Network congratulate the Mumbai Customs for
detecting and holding the shipment and urge the authorities to
follow up on their responsibility to remove the toxic wastes from
Nava Sheva and return it to the exporters in the Middle East.
In November 1997, Greenpeace had exposed a stockpile of
illegally imported toxic wastes, including 28 containers of waste
oil, lying in the Tughlaqabad Inland Container Depot near Delhi.
Because many of the exporters and Indian importers were
untraceable, the Supreme Court permitted the auctioning of the
hazardous wastes on condition that mechanisms would be put in place
to prevent any further imports. Greenpeace and Ban claim that the
hazardous wastes ought to have been returned to the exporters or
country of export in accordance with the Basel Convention.
"It is unforgivable that importers go unpunished despite
blatantly violating a Supreme Court order. The Ministry of
Environment has done precious little to seal our borders from
illegal waste dumping," said Nityanand Jayaraman, Asia Toxics
Campaigner for Greenpeace in India. In fact, the Ministry of
Environment has actively lobbied to free the imports of hazardous
waste oil, even though the international community has
categorically ruled that waste oils are hazardous waste. "The
Ministry should immediately explore ways of returning the illegal
shipments to the exporters," said Jayaraman.
Ironically, the waste oils generated within India continue to be
haphazardly disposed into open drains and sewage channels. Waste
Oil is hazardous because they can be poisonous, can contain
cancer-causing chemicals, and can contaminate the environment in
such a way that the poisons travel through the food chain affecting
the various living organisms, including humans, in the chain.
Reliable sources indicate that the authorities are under
pressure from the importers to release the illegally imported waste
oil currently lying in Nava Sheva Port, near Mumbai. Many of the
importers are merely trading houses or brokers in the waste trade
chain which makes it even more difficult to trace the actual
generator of the wastes or the actual user of the wastes.
"Evidence gathered over the last three years indicate that waste
traders continue to use India as a dumping ground for hazardous
wastes despite an import ban from the highest court," said Ravi
Agarwal of Basel Action Network. "The Ministry of Environment must
fulfill its mandate to uphold the law and move to stop the illegal
imports of hazardous wastes rather than seek to free their
trade."
Greenpeace and Basel Action Network have demanded that:
1. The illegally imported waste oil containers should be
returned to the exporters at the expense of the importers or
exporters in accordance with the Basel Convention;
2. In accordance with the Basel Convention, illegal waste
traffic must be prosecuted as a criminial offence.
3. The Indian Government must ratify the international Basel Ban
Amendment prohibiting exports of hazardous wastes from
industrialised to industrialising countries.