The 'contained' waste at the Union Carbide plant in Bhopal.
The work was carried out in June this year following an order of
the High Court of Madhya Pradesh. This photographic evidence was
earlier presented in MP High Court that directed four NGO
representatives to participate in the review and remediation of the
work of repacking in its decision on October 29, 2005.
The organizations presented shocking visual evidence of drums
with toxic tar leaking from them and unsealed and unlabelled bags.
They pointed out that the bags used for repacking of hazardous
waste were actually meant to hold plastic chips and their use was a
serious violation of national and international standards. The
organizations hold M/s Ramky, Hyderabad and Dr P S Dube, Chairman,
MPPCB guilty of not complying with any standards and violating even
the guidelines laid out by the Central Pollution Control Board for
packaging and transport of Hazardous Wastes.
Rashida Bee, President of Bhopal Gas Peedit Mahila Stationery
Karmachari Sangh demanded severe punishment for the individuals
responsible for misutilization of public money in the work of toxic
waste disposal. "The work of rehabilitation of the contaminated
soil and ground water in and around the Union Carbide factory is
too serious a matter to be entrusted to agencies such as the
Pollution Control Board that is known for its incompetence and
corruption." she said.
Vinuta Gopal from Greenpeace India informed that survivors and
support organizations have offered to demonstrate containment of
hazardous waste in a safe and scientific manner following
international standards and guidelines. With regard to the final
disposal of the toxic waste from Union Carbide, Ms Gopal stated
that it should be shipped to USA or some OECD country at the
expense of Dow Chemical, the present owner of Union Carbide. She
stated that last year over 200 tonnes of toxic mercury waste from
Kodaikanal in Tamilnadu were shipped to USA by the American
multinational Unilever following orders from the Tamilnadu High
Court.
The organizations fear that the technologies suggested by the MP
Pollution Control Board and other government agencies for the
disposal of hazardous waste from Bhopal Union Carbide factory are
bound to cause bigger environmental problems than they are supposed
to solve.
Satinath Sarangi of Bhopal Group for Information and Action said
that the state government plans to dispose off part of the
hazardous waste in a landfill to be dug near Peethampur, Indore and
by incineration in Ankleshwar, Gujarat . According to him " Both
these technologies are unscientific and unsafe for the particular
chemical waste inside the Union Carbide factory. Landfilling will
result in contamination of ground water in Peethampur and
incineration will produce large amounts of Dioxins, the most toxic
chemical in the World."
Leaders of the organizations felt vindicated by the October 29
order of the Madhya Pradesh High Court and asserted that the people
poisoned by Union Carbide will not allow the disposal of hazardous
waste unless the technologies proposed are safe and scientific and
they follow national and international guidelines.
View extract of the
Bhopal High Court Directives
Rashida Bi, Champa Devi Shukla
Bhopal Gas Peedit Mahila Stationery Karmachari Sangh
9303132298
Syed M Irfan,
Bhopal Gas Peedit Mahila Purush Sangharsh Morcha
9329026319
Shahid Noor
Bhopal ki Aawaaz
9826182226
Satinath Sarangi, Rachna Dhingra,
Bhopal Group for Information and Action
9826167369
Vinuta Gopal
Greenpeace India
09845535418
Contact : House No. 12, Gali No. 2, Near Naseer Masjid, Bag
Umrao Dulha, Bhopal
Bhopal Gas Peedit Mahila Stationery Karmachari Sangh
Bhopal Gas Peedit Mahila Purush Sangharsh Morcha
Bhopal Group for Information and Action
Bhopal ki Aawaaz
Greenpeace India