Disposal of Union Carbide waste released toxic chemicals: NGOs

Daily Pioneer: Bhopal: Saturday, February 09, 2013.

Highly toxic chemicals were released during the disposal of industrial waste of now-defunct Union Carbide by a private firm at Pithampur in Dhar district of Madhya Pradesh, NGOs alleged citing RTI replies.

Five organisations working for the survivors of December 1984 gas disaster at a press conference here on Thursday charged the Madhya Pradesh government of being silent spectators to the deliberate and repeated poisoning of people in Pithampur, Indore.

Presenting documents obtained under the RTI Act, the organizations said that high levels of Dioxins and Furans were released from the Ramky waste incinerator during four trial runs from July 2010 to June 2012. According to these documents the levels of Dioxins and Furans in Pithampur were 68 to 267 times higher than the permissible limit.

The organizations said that according to the World Health Organization even minute quantities of Dioxins cause cancers, disrupt hormones, damage the reproductive system and weaken people’s ability to fight diseases.

The organizations pointed out that the incinerator at the Ramky waste treatment facility is not equipped to measure or prevent the escape of Dioxins and Furans and the MP Pollution Control Board had directed its closure in August 2012. However, the Central Pollution Control Board (CPCB) overrode the order of MPPCB and yet another trial run was carried out in January 2013.

According to the organizations, the Ramky waste treatment facility violates the Hazardous Waste Management Rules of 1989 stipulated by the CPCB itself. As per these Rules a waste treatment facility has to be at least 500 metres away from a human settlement whereas the Ramky incinerator is situated less than 200 metres away from the village Tarpura. The organizations pointed out that the documents obtained under the RTI Act show that high levels of pollutants from the incinerator were found in village Tarpura last year.

The organizations stated that because of the high organochlorine content of the Union Carbide waste, they were likely to emit higher volumes of Dioxins and Furans on incineration. They said that while there was no incinerator in India that could handle the Union Carbide waste, the Ramky incinerator was the worst choice.