DNA: Bhopal: Friday,
February 08, 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, on
Thursday accused MP government of "ignoring the release of high levels of
Dioxins and Furans from the Ramky waste incinerator during four trial runs
conducted between July 2010 and June 2012 at Pithampur-based Treatment Storage
Disposal Facility (TSDF)".
They have
based this claim citing documents they have obtained under Right to Information
(RTI) Act from state Gas Relief Department.
"As per
these documents, the levels of Dioxins and Furans in Pithampur were 68 to 267
times higher than the permissible limit, the representatives said.
"According
to WHO norms, even minute quantities of Dioxins cause cancer, disrupt hormones,
damage reproductive system and lowers immunity", said Satinath Sarangi of
'Bhopal Group for Information and Action' and Balkrishna Namdeo of 'Bhopal Gas Peedit
Nirashrit Pension Bhogi Sangharsh Morcha'.
They were
jointly addressing the press conference held here on Thursday.
The activists
claimed that the Ramky waste treatment facility has violated Hazardous Waste
Management Rules 1989, stipulated by CPCB.
"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 Tarpura village", the activists said.
Efforts to
reach Ayodhya Rami Reddy, chairman of Hyderabad-based Ramky Group and other
senior officials for their comments, proved futile as mobile phones of the
executives were not answered following searched by Income tax department on
Thursday.
"The
documents point out that village Tarpura had witnessed higher levels of
pollutants from the incinerator", they alleged.
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