Bhopal: Solid toxic waste has been lying at the site of the gas tragedy in Bhopal, the union carbide factory, for over 30 years. A new study of groundwater in and around Bhopal reveals a high level of contamination. Activists are demanding that the state government takes action.
A solar evaporation pond in the deserted union carbide factory is aptly called 'Zehreela talaab' (poisonous pond) by the locals. Toxic waste from the factory had been pumped into the pond with the management assuring that it wouldn't affect the groundwater. But now the Indian Institute of Toxical Research has turned that assurance on its head. It gathered 26 water samples and concluded that Bhopal's groundwater is indeed contaminated.
Activists like Abdul Jabbar have been saying the same thing for years now. "10,000 metric tonnes of toxic waste is lying in these ponds. The design of the solar evaporation ponds came from the UCC America, so they cannot run away from their responsibility," Jabbar says.
The Madhya Pradesh government, too, has failed to step in and take corrective action, even as those who live around the factory are showing symptoms of diseases contracted by consuming contaminated water for years. ...
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