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November 12, 2007
Gujarat against disposal of Bhopal waste at Ankleshwar
BHOPAL: The Gujarat government has refused to allow disposal of toxic waste from the abandoned Union Carbide plant at the incinerator facility in Ankleshwar, according to copies of letters from the Gujarat Pollution Control Board (GPCB) and the State’s Department of Forest and Environment.
This was highlighted at a press conference here on Sunday by representatives of four people’s organisations working among the victims of the 1984 Union Carbide gas disaster. Mediapersons were jointly addressed by Satinath Sarangi and Rachna Dhingra of Bhopal Group for Information & Action, Syed M. Irfan of Bhopal Gas Peedit Mahila Purush Sangharsh Morcha and Rashida Bi of Bhopal Gas Peedit Mahila Stationery Karmachari Sangh.
Copies of the letters were circulated among journalists. These were obtained using the Right to Information Act.
“Feigning ignorance”
Mr. Sarangi said the Madhya Pradesh government continued to feign ignorance in this regard and was trying to cover up its failure to find a facility within the country that would accept Bhopal’s hazardous waste for disposal.
The letters refer to “opposition from various NGOs and representatives of public” and categorically state that the Madhya Pradesh government must carry out “disposal of the waste elsewhere.”
Mr. Sarangi said that safe disposal of the toxic waste was not possible in India, and Gujarat’s refusal to handle it proved this point.
The leaders heading the people’s organisations reiterated their demand that the government should force Dow Chemical to clean up and ship the toxic waste to some facility in the United States just as the Tamil Nadu Pollution Control Board forced Unilever in 2003 to ship its mercury waste from its thermometer factory in Kodaikanal to the United States for treatment and disposal.
The organisations also presented copies of correspondence between the Madhya Pradesh Pollution Control Board (MPPCB) and the Union Carbide to show that in 1991 the Board recommended export of toxic waste.
Drawing attention to the massive exposure of residents near the Union Carbide plant site to toxic dust during the packaging of the waste in June 2005, the activists expressed apprehension that the Bhopal residents and those on the route of the trucks carrying the waste would once again suffer health hazards.
Posted by tim at 04:55 PM | Comments (0)
November 09, 2007
Officials confident of clearing Union Carbide premises (even though they have nowhere to send the waste and nobody to pay for it to be done properly...)
Bhopal.net has decided to begin a new game. It's called 'Dow lobby Watch', and it's so simple anyone can play. All you have to do is spot the words of Dow's hyperactive India-based lobbyists falling from the mouths of compliant Indian officials. Today's compliant bureaucrat is Krishna Kant Dubey, a senior official with the Bhopal Gas Relief and Rehabilitation Department, who has this to say about liability for the contamination Carbide left in Bhopal: "We work on the pollution pace principle. There was no Act on environment till 1989. How can you punish someone in retrospect?"
Regardless of the fact that Carbide is implicated in management of waste in Bhopal AFTER 1989 when the Hazardous Waste & Management Rules were introduced, Mr Dubey appears so keen to please Dow reps that he omits to mention that Article 21 of the Indian Constitution guarantees everyone the right to life, and that the Supreme Court has interpreted this in the following way: "environmental, ecological, air, water, pollution etc should be regarded as amounting to a violation of Article 21."
Nevertheless, the main purpose of the following article is to allege that survivors' organisations - with their desire for a full, safe clean-up, paid for by Dow and in accordance with international standards - are the only fetter to getting the contamination out of the way. We wonder whether Dow pay full PR industry rates for such sterling services?
Shashikant Trivedi, Business Standard, November 09, 2007
Bhopal -- MP government authorities are now confident of disposing of the solid toxic wastes lying on the Union Carbide India Ltd premises. They say non-government organisations are main hurdle than the gas victims in removing the toxic wastes.
The Madhya Pradesh Pollution Control Board and Bhopal Gas Relief and Rehabilitation Department do not see any possible threat to the environment while transporting or disposing of the toxic waste.
“It has been lying there, unattended, in the open, for at least 19 years. How toxicity increases with the passage of time we don’t know,” said Krishna Kant Dubey, a senior official with the Bhopal Gas Relief and Rehabilitation Department.
The MP Pollution Control Board also does not see any potential hazard in handling the solid toxic wastes. “No one is interested in its disposal. If disposal takes place, there will be no issue. We have recommended the (solid waste) disposal to the task force. Now the state government has to execute the task. Half the solid waste will be land-filled and the rest will be incinerated by Bharuch Enviro Infrastructure Ltd (BEIL) in Ankleshwar Gujrat.”
Recently, MK Nagrik Parivahan & Udyog Sahakari Samiti, a company, has responded to a tender floated for the second time by the Bhopal Gas Relief and Rehabilitation Department for removing 46 tonnes of lime sludge. The sludge is to be transported and land-filled in Pithampur (Dhar district) site developed by the Ramky Group.
NGOs have questioned the experience of the bidder. Government authorities say it will not be a simple exercise of transportation.
“Whosever executes the task will have to abide by the norms of the Central Pollution Control Board. The land will be concreted and tagged while the rest of the toxic waste will be reduced to nothing at 1,400 degree temperature,” said SP Gautam, chairman and head of the technical sub-committee that has recommended the terms and condition of the disposal.
The Bhopal Gas Relief and Rehabilitation Department has also questioned the role of the Gujarat Pollution Control board on its refusal to accept the toxic waste. “Why did they (Gujarat Pollution Control Board) accept the Jabalpur High Court’s orders last month? They should have refused before the court,” said Dubey. However, some officials in the state government believe that the Gujarat government wants to avoid the matter since elections are nearing.
Replying to a question that if NGOs want Dow Chem to remove the waste and a claim for environment pollution, Dubey said, “We work on the pollution pace principle. There was no Act on environment till 1989. How can you punish someone in retrospect? Fortunately, the court has discretionary powers in such cases otherwise we would be helpless.”
Both the authorities are confident that the toxic waste removal process will be completed in accordance with the guidelines issued by the Jabalpur High Court, within two months with the NGO’s cooperation.
Posted by tim at 05:45 PM | Comments (0)
November 07, 2007
23 yrs after Bhopal gas tragedy, MP`s clean-up call finds a taker
Sreelatha Menon, Business Standard, November 07, 2007
At a time no one is willing to touch the toxic waste left by Union Carbide in Bhopal after the gas tragedy of 1984, one transport company has responded to the tender by Madhya Pradesh’s Department of Bhopal Gas Relief and Rehabilitation to clear the waste — 370 metric tonnes of it — buried on the company premises. Nobody had responded to the last tender.
However, MK Nagrik Parivahan & Udyog Sahakari Samiti, the sole bidder for the tender, is being criticised as inexperienced and ill-equipped to remove hazardous waste. “The bidder, with just eight months of experience in transporting fertilisers between Madhya Pradesh and Gujarat, has just one truck,” said an NGO.
The state government is yet to take a decision but the criticism indicates the waste is destined to remain stuck for some more time.
But the man who wants the contract, Dharampal Chaurasia, Secretary of the MK Nagrik Parivahan and Udyog Sahakari Samiti, is confident. “I don’t know why the earlier tenders did not get any bids. If our application is accepted, I will fight all obstacles.” He defended his credentials as a transporter. “I have the records to prove my ability to transport hazardous wastes,” he said.
Chaurasia denies he has just one truck and little experience. He says he has been working for three years and has been taking IFFCO’s fertiliser waste from all over the state to Kandla. “I can prove this in court,” he said.
The high court has asked the state to take steps to clear the waste, 370 metric tonnes of which is buried on the premises of the plant and 8,000 tonnes is in the nearby solar ponds.
The court had, in fact, asked the authorities to send 300-odd metric tonnes of the waste to Ankleshwar in Gujarat and 39 metric tonnes to Dhar in Madhya Pradesh. However, the Gujarat government told the Central Pollution Control Board it could not accept the waste.
The officials are positive. “We are yet to get the application but one must appreciate that when companies with several trucks refused, a company with a single truck has come forward,” said an official of the Department of Bhopal Gas Relief and Rehabilitation: He denied that the Gujarat government refused and said the process of removal of the waste would be monitored by the court.
Nityanand Jayaraman of the International Campaign for Justice in Bhopal says the companies are reluctant to take up the work due to the resistance they anticipate from the Bhopal gas tragedy survivors and their supporters.
“They are moving in circles over just 370 metric tonnes. What will happen to the 8,000 tonnes in solar ponds where children and cattle take baths? The contamination spreads every monsoon. It is a Rs 1.20-lakh contract and so this company fell for it. It does not know the strict rules for transporting hazardous waste,” said Rachna Dhingra of the group.
NGOs and survivor groups oppose dumping the waste in India. “Let them pack the waste in metallic barrels and take it back to the US,” says Dhingra.
The court is trying to settle two matters at a time, the disposal of the waste on the plant site and fixing the liability for cleaning up.
In the latter, there have been unconfirmed reports of the Union government making efforts to withdraw its application demanding a Rs 100 crore remediation deal from Dow Chemicals, which took over from Union Carbide. But the last two hearings have seen no change in the Centre’s stand.
Posted by tim at 05:41 PM | Comments (0)