DELHI - More
than a quarter of a century after the world's
worst industrial disaster - the Bhopal gas tragedy
- unfolded in the central state of Madhya Pradesh
on December 2-3, 1984, its ghosts continue to
haunt the Indian government.
The mishap,
which killed over 25,000 people and maimed
thousands, occurred during a storage tank leak at
the pesticide plant of the United States-owned
Union Carbide India Limited (UCIL), the Indian
subsidiary of Union Carbide Corporation (UCC).
The defective tank spewed such a lethal
cocktail of methyl isocyanate gas and other
industrial chemicals that entire families were
wiped out within hours in the slums near the
factory. The
accident created an
international furor with many dubbing it as the
"Hiroshima" of the industrial world, in reference
to the nuclear bomb that was dropped on the
Japanese city of that name in World War II.
Ironically, nearly three decades after the
disaster, the residual toxic industrial waste
continues to lie at UCIL's 20-acre (eight hectare)
abandoned factory in Bhopal. Neither the Indian
government nor Dow Chemicals, which bought Union
Carbide in 1999, has taken the responsibility to
clean up the mess. The result? Hundreds of tones
of hazardous waste - an open invitation to death -
lying in the open awaiting disposal.
Various studies have established that the
dump still has the potential to kill. Research
conducted by environmental non-governmental
organization (NGO) Greenpeace has found
significantly high levels of toxins like carbaryl,
lindane and alpha napthol in the soil and water
around the factory areas, the result of toxic
debris seeping into the ground. Shockingly, even
the breast milk of the women who consume the
area's food and water has been found to be
contaminated.
A study by Indian non-profit
organization, the Center for Science and
Environment (CSE), showed that groundwater up to
three kilometers (two miles) from the plant
contained 110 times the maximum quantity of the
pesticide carbaryl deemed safe in Indian bottled
water.
According to CSE director Sunita
Narain, there is evidence that chemicals from the
Union Carbide leak continue to poison the people
through the water they drink. "The factory site in
Bhopal is leading to chronic toxicity - continuous
tiny exposure leading to poisoning," says Narain.
Last July, with sustained pressure from
the media and activist groups, the Jabalpur High
Court directed Delhi to identify an authorized
facility in the country to conduct a trial run and
burn the toxic waste from the factory in a
controlled environment.
Some 350 tons of
the toxic waste was to be incinerated at a Defense
Research and Development Organization (DRDO)
facility 30 kilometers from Nagpur. But this
failed to be implemented as a local environmental
action group moved the Bombay High Court for a ban
on the High Court's decision.
It was
discovered that the DRDO waste treatment plant was
operating without proper consent. The Nagpur bench
stayed the entry of the toxic waste into Nagpur
and directed the state government, the Maharashtra
Pollution Control Board ( MPCB) and the
petitioners to file an intervention petition at
the Jabalpur bench.
However, in a piquant
turn of events, the Madhya Pradesh Pollution
Control Board said that the toxic waste had not
been brought to the DRDO facility. It said the
facility had not been functional for over two
years and was ill-equipped to destroy the waste.
Again in 2008, while Indore was under
curfew following communal riots, the state
government surreptitiously tried to shift 40 tons
of toxic waste from the factory to an incinerator
in Pithampur, 230 kilometers away.
When
the local people created an uproar, the state
government backed off and the plan was dropped,
but not before the then-environment minister
Jairam Ramesh apologized to the locals. Following
the Pithampur debacle, the waste was shuttled to
Ankleshwar (Gujarat) but it could not be buried
there either due to objections from municipal
bodies.
This month, Bhopal's infamous
toxic waste grabbed headlines yet again when the
Central Pollution Control Board (CPCB), the
country's apex body to monitor pollution, decided
to arbitrarily ship the toxic pollutants 784
kilometers away to the Mumbai Waste Management
Limited in Taloja, Navi Mumbai. The waste was to
be exhumed in the company's compound. However, the
Maharashtra government denied permission to the
CPCB for a trial run to burn 10 tons of waste.
State Environment Secretary Valsa Nair
Singh told the media that "the toxic waste must be
disposed of at a facility close to the incident
site in Madhya Pradesh". However, sources say what
really annoyed MPCB officials was the high-handed
manner in which the Madhya Pradesh government
handled the matter without even bothering to
procure a NOC (no objection certificate) from
Maharashtra's local municipal authorities.
"What is the need to conduct a trial run
in Navi Mumbai when Madhya Pradesh has its own
facility to dispose of hazardous waste located
just 229 kilometers away from the defunct Union
Carbide factory? It doesn't make sense for the
toxic waste to travel around 780 kilometers if it
has to be brought to Navi Mumbai," a senior MPCB
official told the Hindustan Times.
Local
environmentalists point out that the waste
contains hazardous halogen nitrate compounds and a
chlorinated organic chain. "Burning the waste
could result in carcinogenic dioxine fumes being
released into the atmosphere which could trigger
deformities in the populace besides respiratory
and nervous disorders," Neena Waghre, a local NGO
activist, told Asia Times Online over phone.
Apart from severely embarrassing the
Shivraj Singh Chouhan-helmed Bharatiya Janata
Party government in Madhya Pradesh, the Bhopal
debris also highlights shocking bureaucratic
apathy.
The abject failure of the state
and central governments in disposing of Union
Carbide's toxic waste also raises fundamental
questions about responsibility. Who is legally
responsible for laying the debris to rest?
Ecologists argue that as polluter, UCIL must take
full responsibility. After all, it had agreed to
surrender the land in usable and habitable
condition, as per its lease terms with the Madhya
Pradesh Pollution Control Board. The board had
also directed UCIL to carry out an environment
investigation of the dumpsite and remediation
thereafter.
Despite this directive, the
site was surrendered without compliance with those
directions. The prevarication of the Madhya
Pradesh government - and the unethical manner in
which it has tried to get rid of Bhopal's
industrial waste - is in keeping with its
reprehensible conduct so far, say critics.
Ironically, the Madhya Pradesh government
has not even pressed into action provisions in the
Environment (Protection) Act 1986 and the Water
(Prevention and control of Pollution) Act 1974,
which contain heavy penalties to prosecute Dow
Chemicals.
Analysts opine this could well
be because of alleged US pressure and fear about
what kind of a signal it would send to potential
investors across the world. In this uncertain
economic climate, which is already crimping
economic growth, India can't afford to be seen as
being too harsh on multinational corporations
(MNCs), say observers.
It seems the toxic
remains of the Bhopal gas tragedy will stay put
for now. Even a group of ministers headed by Home
Minister P Chidambaram has failed to suggest how
to conduct their treatment and disposal.
As Ashok Agarwal, senior advocate and
convener of Social Jurist, a New Delhi-based civil
rights group, puts it, "Bhopal stands out not only
as a glaring example of corporate delinquency, but
also of the inadequacy of domestic law to
regulate, prevent or penalize errant MNCs."
Neeta Lal is a widely published
writer/commentator who contributes to many reputed
national and international print and Internet
publications.
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