The representatives of five Bhopal gas survivor organisations on Sunday urged the Group of Ministers on Bhopal to take a long term view in dealing with the issue of hazardous waste and toxic contamination linked with the 1984 Bhopal gas disaster.
The demand raised by the Bhopal gas survivors acquires significance as the GoM will be meeting on Monday to discuss the issue of disposal of 350MT of toxic waste as directed by the Supreme Court. The Apex Court has listed the matter on May 28 and will be awaiting the decision of GoM on solution for disposal of 350 MT of Union Carbide waste.
The survivors’ representatives here have emphasised in this connection that there is a proposal by a German agency (GIZ) to pack, transport and dispose the waste in a facility in Hamburg, Germany in about `13 crores which is almost 4 times less than the cost of incinerating the waste at an illegal facility at Peethamur near Indore in Madhya Pradesh. The survivors’ representatives have stated in their letter addressed to the chairman GoM that 350 metric tones (of waste), which is the preoccupation of courts and the government, is merely a fraction of the problem. They have specifically cited government records to show that 27,000 metric tonnes of hazardous waste and contaminated soil are buried in the solar evaporation ponds north of the factory. Besides this, thousands of tonnes of waste is buried in 21 unlined pits inside the factory premises.
The attention of GoM has also been drawn to the fact that in 2010, the GoM had constituted a five member oversight committee, which was subsequently notified by the minister of environment & forests. The Oversight Committee appointed a peer review committee. The PRC studied the NEERI/NGRI reports, and on the basis of the comments on this from 31 technical experts from around the world concluded that the findings of the `2.5 crore study by NEERI and NGRI on the depth and spread of contamination was not to be relied upon.
The GoM has been asked that national and international agencies with experience of handling a situation comparable in magnitude and complexity need to be involved and the liability of Union Carbide and Dow Chemical on scientific and medical basis should be fixed. The best options for resolution of the hazardous waste and contamination should also be explored.