On the occasion of the World Environment Day on Friday, residents from the neighbourhood of Union Carbide’s abandoned factory in Bhopal demonstrated against the Indian Government’s failure in removing thousands of tons of poisonous waste for the last 19 years after the massive, infamous gas leak tradegy.
Hundreds of residents stood in the form of a question mark and held a banner atop the mound below which the hazardous waste lies buried. The demonstrators said that the question mark was meant to signify the many unanswered questions about the ongoing contamination in an area greater than 20 sq km.
According to five organizations which jointly organized the demonstration, several thousand tons of hazardous waste from the Union Carbide pesticide factory was buried under the mound in 1996 by the factory management. The waste is known to contain chemicals that cause cancers and birth defects and damage the liver, kidneys, lungs and the brain.
The organizations said that in October 2012 the lucknow based Indian Institute of Toxicology Research had reported that the groundwater in 22 communities with 10, 000 resident families is contaminated. According to them further tests have shown that the contamination has spread beyond the 22 communities and it will continue unless the buried waste is removed from the site.
“It is Union Carbide that buried the waste next to our homes. Why the Indian Government is not able to make Union Carbide’s current owner Dow Chemical accept legal liability and clean up the toxic wasteIJ” said Rashida Bee, president of the Bhopal Gas Peedit Mahila Stationary Karmchari Sangh.
Balkrishna Namdeo of the Bhopal Gas Peedit Nirashrit Pensionbhogee Sangharsh Morcha condemned the Environment Minister’s recent refusal to seek help from the United Nations Environment Programme (UNEP) for a comprehensive scientific assessment of the depth, spread and nature of contamination. He said that without such assessment no clean-up could even begin.
Satinath Sarangi of the Bhopal Group for Information and Action said that a legal petition for removal of the hazardous waste and clean-up by Dow Chemical was pending before the Madhya Pradesh High Court for the last 11 years. “It is shocking that the judges continue to drag their feet on an issue that concerns the destruction of lives and the future of hundreds of unborn children.” he said.