BHOPAL: Several survivors and organisations supporting the victims of the 1984 Union Carbide gas disaster on Wednesday presented photographic evidence of "unscientific and unsafe" repacking of chemical waste inside the now abandoned Carbide factory by Ramky Pharma City Limited authorized to do the job by the State Pollution Control Board on orders of the Madhya Pradesh High Court.

The Bhopal Gas Peedit Mahila Stationary Karmachari Sangh, Bhopal Gas Peedit Mahila Purush Sangharsh Morcha, Bhopal Group for Information and Action, Bhopal Ki Awaaz and Greenpeace India held a press conference here on Wednesday to present evidence of unsealed and unlabelled bags and drums with toxic tar leaking from them.

Vinuta Gopal of Greenpeace pointed out that the bags used for repacking of hazardous waste earlier this year were actually meant to hold plastic chips and their use for packing toxic waste was in gross violation of international safety standards. Rashida Bee, President of Bhopal Gas Peedit Mahila Stationary Karmachari Sangh demanded severe punishment for individuals responsible for the misutilisation of public money meant for removal of toxic waste from the factory premises. The work of rehabilitation of the contaminated soil and ground water in and around the Union Carbide factory is too serious a matter to been trusted to agencies such as Pollution Control Board, she added. Ms. Gopal said that the toxic waste should be shipped to United States at the expense of Dow Chemical, the present owner of Union Carbide. She said that last year over 200 tonnes of toxic mercury waste from Kodaikanal in Tamil Nadu were shipped to US by the American multinational Unilever following orders from the Tamil Nadu High Court. The representatives of people's organisations expressed fear that the technologies suggested by Government agencies and the Pollution Control Board for the disposal of toxic waste from the Carbide site in the State Capital would create bigger environmental problem instead of solving the crisis.

In the meanwhile, the Madhya Pradesh High Court in its order of October 29 in writ petition no. 2802 has specifically said that the containers that have been supplied by the contractor and in which waste and toxic material is kept shall be scrutinized by the Director of National Environmental Engineering Research Institute (NEERI) along with the Chairman of Madhya Pradesh Pollution Control Board and one of the members of the Task Force, namely the Madhya Pradesh Government Principal Secretary Bhopal Gas Tragedy Relief and Rehabilitation.

The order further said that the specifications of the container should be supplied by Greenpeace of India to the coordinator of the Task Force and the principal Secretary Gas Tragedy Relief and Rehabilitation. The Court also asked the petitioners, Satinath Sarangi, Vinuta Gopal, Balaji Srinivasan and Satish Tiwari to repeat their suggestions if the containers were not found in order.

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