May 3: In a startling revelation it has come to light that Delhi University, which has many hi-tech gadgets, does not have a radiation safety expert on its payroll for last four years. The experts say that had there been a radiation safety expert, Mayapuri incident, which claimed one life and affected six, could have been avoided.
Meanwhile, the DU has sent a preliminary report to the Atomic Energy Research Board.
“Dr D.S. Ranadeva retired in 2006. After him, no one was given the responsibility nor anyone was recruited. We told the V-C in 2007 that a radiation expert need to be appointed but the he did not pay any heed to it and till date we do not have anyone,” a DU teacher said.
The job of the radiation expert is to ensure that the laboratories under him where radioactive material is used are safe. His main job is to dispose off the radioactive material in a safe manner, which includes all the objects, including water that comes in contact of radioactive material while doing experiments in the laboratory.
Apart from that his job is to get things labelled, ensure the radioactive material is kept safely, be a part of the write off committee and ensure safety of the students, teachers and lab technicians. The teacher said till 2006 no such incident was reported anywhere in the university.
When contacted, deputy proctor Om Pal Singh said, “That is true we do not have radiation safety expert, but all the teachers who are working with radioactive material are radiation experts. They should know how to use and dispose it off.” The Delhi University has filed its preliminary report into the incident to the AERB. PRO Om Pal Singh, however, refused to comment about it.
in a related development, two persons exposed to Cobalt-60 radiation are likely to go through a bone marrow transplant (BMT) soon at the Army hospital here. The two patients were identified as Ajay Jain and Deeepak Jain, metal scrap dealer exposed to Cobalt-60 radiation at Mayapuri industrial Area last month.
The two were transferred to the Army hospital and they were found to have leucopenia (low white cells, thrombocytopenia) with bone marrow showing below normal cellularity (hypocellular), doctors treating them said.