The Union minister for environment and forest Jairam Ramesh said here on Friday that the Bhopal Environmental Remediation Oversight Committee will meet here in mid-August to take a decision on disposal, decontamination and remediation of toxic waste and remaining material at the Union Carbide site on the basis of reports of
the National Environmental Engineering Research Institute (NEERI), National Geophysical Research Institute (NGRI) and Indian Institute of Chemical Technology (IICT).
Mr Ramesh said that the oversight committee is not an override committee. It has been set up to monitor and facilitate, he said adding he would like the Central government and the state government to work together. “We have to work with the NGOs, depend on local society, and local media. We would like to do it in a transparent and as consultative a manner as possible,” the minister told media-persons after holding consultations with representatives of NGOs working for the cause of the victims of the 1984 Bhopal gas disaster.
The minister said that doubts have been expressed by several NGOs over the plan to incinerate the Carbide waste at Peethampur near Indore. He said: “I am going to Peethampur tonight and shall be there the whole day tomorrow. I have been told by NGOs that the Central Pollution Control Board (CPCB) guidelines have been violated. If necessary, we will definitely conduct an inquiry.” Mr Ramesh said that the group of ministers on Bhopal has said very clearly that the 350 to 400 tonnes of tarry residue waste lying at the site must be incinerated at Peethampur where there is a treatment storage and disposal facility.