Delhi Chief Minister Sheila Dikshit on Saturday said the radiation leak in Mayapuri has got her Government worried as it has highlighted certain lacunae in keeping tabs on radioactive waste material coming to the city.
“It is definitely a worrying issue and we are working on ways and means of preventing such incidents in the future,’’ she said, adding that Delhi Chief Secretary had on Friday convened a meeting to deliberate on the matter with various departments.
“It is only through specialised equipment that such radiation can be detected and we are working in that direction,” Ms. Dikshit said, adding that even the present disaster management apparatus is not adequately equipped to deal with such situations.
Ms. Dikshit said as the matter involves a lot of technicalities, an ordinary enquiry cannot suffice. “It is an issue that demands specific expertise as is possessed by the Bhabha Atomic Research Centre, whose scientists had helped us detect and control the radiation leak,” she said.
The Chief Minister said while the incident has created a scare among the scrap dealers, the Delhi Government is also considering how to regulate the entry of such radioactive material into the city. “We need to trace the origin of these substances and ensure that more such material is not able to make its way to Delhi.”
As for relocating the scrap markets to the city outskirts, Ms. Dikshit said the markets just cannot be shifted like that as the scrap business is being carried out in small scale in several parts of the city.
