Several NGOs working for the cause of the Bhopal gas victims on Wednesday called for immediate scrapping of the recommendations of the Peer Review Committee set up for remediation of toxic contamination in and around the abandoned Union Carbide factory in the state capital and demanded reconstitution of this committee to ensure that there were no members in this panel with conflict of interests.
These demands coincided with the meeting of the Oversight Committee on Bhopal Environmental Rehabilitation chaired by union minister for environment and forest Jairam Ramesh here on Wednesday. The PRC recommendations, besides the issue of disposal of 350 metric tonnes of toxic waste stored in the abandoned Union Carbide premises and the assessment of contaminated soil in and around this place were taken up for discussion at this meeting. The PRC recommendations, based on studies conducted by National Environmental Engineering Research Institute (NEERI), National Geophysical Research Institute (NGRI) and Indian Institute of Chemical Technology (IICT), were discussed specially keeping in focus the “incomplete” water contamination study done by NEERI. According to an official spokesman, there was a broad consensus at this meeting on the state government’s stand that the Central Pollution Control Board should be made the umbrella organisation to fix the criteria and conduct a comprehensive study. The official spokesman told this newspaper that that Mr Ramesh would be taking up with the Union defence minister the issue of disposing toxic waste.