Facing strong protests from local people and activists, the government has finally decided not to move 350 metric tonnes of toxic waste from the Union Carbide plant in Bhopal to an incinerator in Pithampur.
The decision was taken at a Thursday meeting of the Group of Ministers (GoM) dealing with the Bhopal gas leak disaster of 1984. In its initial meeting in June 2010, the GoM had decided that over 350 tonnes of stored toxic waste would be incinerated at the Treatment, Storage and Disposal Facility at Pithampur near Indore in Madhya Pradesh.
However, protests from residents — who are already angry about the 40 tonnes of waste that was secretly smuggled in from Bhopal one night in 2008 — have forced the government to change its mind.
No firm decision
No firm decision has been taken regarding the one million tonnes of waste that still lie within the Union Carbide plant premises, much of it contaminated soil. Instead, sources say that the issue of dismantling and decommissioning the plant has been put on hold.
The GoM has asked the Bhopal Oversight Committee to study the problem and submit a proposal in three months on how the plant structures can be decontaminated and restored.
Offers
The GoM has also agreed to consider offers from international agencies for a comprehensive assessment of the decontamination problem, according to sources.
Activists have insisted that the Indian government and autonomous institutions — such as NEERI, the NGRI and IICT which prepared the original report — cannot be trusted.
