It’s back to square one in the mission to get rid of toxic waste from Union Carbide’s pesticide plant in Bhopal, with German agency GIZ backing out of a proposal to airlift 350 tonnes of waste to Europe for safe disposal.
After three months of extensive contract negotiations with the Indian government, the firm on Monday said: “Hazardous waste disposal through GIZ is no longer an option.” In a statement on why the contract did not materialise, GIZ said “uncertainties [which] extended to the German public” had grown during the months of struggling to close the deal.
Earlier this year, the Union Cabinet approved the proposal to pay Rs. 25 crore to GIZ to airlift the waste on the recommendation of a Group of Ministers headed by P. Chidambaram. However, GIZ’s negotiations on the agreement being carried out with the Madhya Pradesh government have stalled, mostly over disagreements on the sharing of liability, arbitration and jurisdiction in case of dispute.
“This is now back in the GoM’s court,” said Environment Minister Jayanthi Natarajan when asked about the fate of the waste now stocked in a warehouse.
The 350 tonnes of waste – which is not directly linked to the deadly gas leak of 1984 but rather comes from chemical pollutants dumped by Union Carbide from 1969 onwards – is merely one part of the more than one million tonnes of contaminated soil and other wastes still present at the site. Bhopal residents say this waste is still seeping out, poisoning land and groundwater all around the plant.
Attempts to dispose of the 350 tonnes of waste in several Indian incinerators — with the last effort at Pithampur in Madhya Pradesh — were vociferously opposed by people living nearby. Now, protests as far away as Germany have ensured that the waste cannot be taken to Europe either.
Letter to Chidambaram
In a letter to Mr. Chidambaram, GIZ said “German media misrepresentation” had triggered unease among the public. According to German press agency DPA, the letter from GIZ regional director Hans-Hermann Dube said, “It would be in the best interest of strong Indo-German cooperation not to pursue this project offer further.”
Keywords: Bhopal gas tragedy, Union Carbide, GoM on Bhopal, toxic waste disposal
The news that this company is going to airlift the hazardous waste from Bhopal to Germany for treatment broke in Germany through a newspaper . It aroused public sentiment in Germany and more phobic than realistic approach were chosen based on people's opinion.
However some credit to this failure is also due to some babus sitting in north block from whom this confidential information got leaked to newspaper. The company had already expressed it's anger to Indian side when this information got leaked when it was in final stage of discussion. Actually, the fate of deal become quite evident two weeks back when this deal in it's final stage was published in newspaper in Germany fueling people sentiments .
Indian babus have to be more professional in holding out such confidential and sensitive issue. Had the news not published there, Indian Govt would have succeeded in getting treated waste by company who is specialized in it
The Govt. of Rajiv Gandhi allowed Union Carbide to get away without doing anything. The country is still suffering for this act.
GOI & Madya Pradesh Government should locate a remote island not inhabited either in Indian Ocean or such other sea that is within Indian dominion then airlift all the debri using India's military resources for burial is such a remote island. Make sure no unconcerned fishermen association or NGO outfit puts monkey wrench in such plans just to embarass the government(s) or to collect some type of 'compensation' they are not entitled to!
This is a good example of why we should not allow nuclear power in this country.
When a reactor blows up, foreign companies that sold us the sub-standard reactors
will not take responsibility.
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