Bhopal gas survivors slam opening of Union Carbide plant

BHOPAL - Bhopal gas tragedy survivors Thursday criticised the Madhya Pradesh government’s announcement to throw open Union Carbide’s now defunct pesticide plant here for the public on the 25th anniversary of the tragedy as a “dangerous publicity stunt” and termed it a violation of court orders.

The tragedy on the intervening night of Dec 2-3, 1984, occurred when tonnes of Methyl Iso Cyanate (MIC) and other lethal gases spewed out of the Union Carbide Corporation’s pesticide plant here, killing more than 3,500 people instantly and maiming several thousand others for life.

The Madhya Pradesh High Court on Oct 29, 2005, ordered that “the factory premises should be appropriately guarded by deputing armed guards so that no outsider can enter into the factory premises, for in the factory premises toxic materials have been stored and it cannot be regarded as a garden, park or laboratory where children come to play.”

Now the state government has declared Union Carbide factory premises will be opened for people for seven days on the 25th anniversary of the Bhopal Gas Tragedy in December.

“The plant is being opened to help people get rid of the apprehension and misconception that the chemical wastes lying in the factory are still harmful and are polluting the ground water of the nearby localities,” Bhopal Gas Tragedy Relief and Rehabilitation Minister Babulal Gaur, who is also a former state chief minister, said in a statement Tuesday.

Reacting to the government order, the International Campaign for Justice in Bhopal said: “More than 10 governmental and non-governmental studies have confirmed the presence of highly toxic chemicals in the soil and environment of the factory site.”

“A 1999 study by Greenpeace, which estimated that more than 20 percent of the factory site is contaminated, also found elevated levels of mercury, lead, nickel, copper, chromium, hexachlorocyclohexane, chlorobenzene and Sevin in soil samples taken from within the factory,” said Bhopal Group Of Information and Action’s spokesperson Rachna Dhingra.

“Mercury levels at one sample location were more than 6 million times what is expected in uncontaminated areas,” she said, adding that mercury is a potent neurotoxin that can enter the human body through inhalation, contact and ingestion.

“The site is completely unsafe and you can’t put your foot on the ground,” said Dhingra quoting P.M. Bhargava, an eminent scientist and founder director of the Centre for Cellular and Molecular Biology.

The move by the state government, BGIA activists said, comes on the heels of a “similar stunt” by union Environment Minister Jairam Ramesh who said he had handled the toxic waste stored onsite and emerged unscathed.

Ramesh pointed to his still being alive as proof that the pesticides and residue stored inside the factory are harmless.

“The centre and the state government hope to use the 25th anniversary as an occasion to bury the disaster along with all the pending liabilities. This is what Dow (the new owner) wants,” said Syed M. Irfan of the Bhopal Gas Peedit Mahila Purush Sangarsh Morcha.

“In addition to the contamination and toxic wastes inside the factory, several thousand tonnes of contaminated soil and wastes are lying inside the solar evaporation ponds outside the factory,” the activists claimed.

Bhopal organisations have said the contamination can be verified by scientific studies, and that as victims of one toxic disaster, they will do all that is in their capacity to discourage the general public from entering the factory premises and harming themselves.