Too Hot to Handle – Storage of Toxic Industrial Waste
India has tightened guidelines for storage of toxic industrial waste. But is it enough?
A fire at Ankleshwar forced India to rethink how it handles hazardous waste. Drums carrying dangerous industrial sludge flew amid leaping flames and burst in the air at a waste storage at the industrial complex in Bharuch district of Gujarat on April 3 last year. Ash fell all around. People in nearby villages were told to evacuate; many suffered coughing, headache, nausea and burning sensation in the nose and throat.
It could have turned into a disaster worse than the Bhopal gas tragedy but for the change in the wind direction away from other factories (see ‘Bhopal to Bharuch’, Down To Earth, April 30, 2008). Continue reading »
Filed under Environment, Pollution, Travel | Tags: Bharuch, Central Pollution Control Board (CPCB), Gujarat, Hazardous Waste, Hazardous Waste Regulations, India, Ministry Of Environment And Forests (MOEF), Toxic Wastes, Waste Disposal, Waste Incineration, Waste Management, Waste To Energy, Waste Treatment | Comment (0)Deadline for disposing UCIL (Union Carbide Plant) waste
The Madhya Pradesh High Court on December 16 issued fresh directions to dispose the toxic waste lying at the Union Carbide plant in Bhopal. The waste is to be incinerated at the waste treatment site in Ankleshwar industrial area of Gujarat. The court directed the Gujarat government to dispose the hazardous waste by January 31, 2009.
The waste has been lying at the plant since 1984 when the Bhopal gas tragedy occurred. The 350 metric tonnes of waste is at the centre of a legal wrangle between Madhya Pradesh and Gujarat governments.
The Gujarat government did not comply with similar orders passed by the high court in October 2007. A fire at the hazardous waste treatment facility (managed by Bharuch Enviro Infrastructure Ltd. or beil) and opposition from local non-profits were cited as main reasons for non-compliance. Continue reading »
Filed under News, Pollution | Tags: Bhopal Gas Disaster, Central Pollution Control Board (CPCB), Gujarat, Hazardous Waste, High Court, Madhya Pradesh, Supreme Court, Toxic Wastes, Union Carbide, Waste Disposal, Waste Incineration | Comment (0)Corporal lab – Clinical trials sustain Ahmedabad’s Riot Victims
Clinical trials sustain Ahmedabad’s riot victims
When her husband took chronically ill after communal riots drove them to Juhapura, a ghetto on the outskirts of Ahmedabad, poverty made life seem unmanageable. Free will then became a matter of Rs 8,000 for 40-year-old Zainab Bi. For a sum like that she was willing to swallow an unknown pill once in three months. It wasn’t much they were asking for really, so she gladly gave her thumb impression on the dotted line.
For companies researching new drugs the thumb impression was proof that Bi submitted herself to the experiment of her own free will. It was far more expensive to have such proof in countries where the multinational drug companies that sponsored the research had their headquarters. They were far more cumbersome, involved lengthy documentation and rigorous insurance plans. Clinical research organizations (cros) made the task far easier for these companies by carrying out their research in the ghettoes of India’s big cities. Drug trial was far less daunting; and inexpensive. People were more than willing to offer their bodies for bio-chemical experimentation. The official guidelines warned against monetary inducement. Continue reading »
Filed under India, Livelihood, News, Research | Tags: Ahmedabad, Drug Industry, Drugs, Gujarat, Health, Health Effects, India, Indian Council Of Medical Research (ICMR), Medical Research, Poverty, Women | Comment (0)Flood sans river
Saurashtra was flooded since rainwater could not drain
THE state highway between Viramgam and Surendranagar towns in Gujarat presents a stark contrast. On one side is a carpet of green fields for miles, and on the other, decaying Jowar and cotton crops, at places submerged in water. The 60 km highway itself remained under water for three days in mid-September.
The contrast makes clear the nature of floods in Gujarat. There are no rivers near inundated areas. After Surat floods in 2006, this is the second time that a major flood has happened in the state due to blocking of drainage paths. Most affected areas are in the peninsular Saurashtra region. In two days, September 17-18, it rained as much in Surendranagar district as it rains in a year there. “It rained more than 40 inches in 30 hours, leading to flooding. There was no time for water to recede,” said J D Bhad, collector of Surendranagar.
The damage was heavy. Over a hundred thousand hectares of agricultural land was damaged by water-logging. About two thousand houses have collapsed completely and 13,000 others are partially damaged. Yudhveer Jadhav, an elder member of Adalsar village in Surendranagar, estimates that in his Lakhtar taluka, cotton crops worth Rs 40 crore have been damaged. Continue reading »
Filed under Agriculture, Rivers, Travel | Tags: Agriculture, Floods, Gujarat, Narmada Valley Project, Natural Disasters, Rainfall, Rainfall Pattern, Salinity, Surendranagar, Waterlogging | Comment (0)Toxic Waste kept for Safe Disposal in Bharuch Catches Fire
A Fire at a facility especially set up to safely store and dispose of hazardous waste at Ankleshwar in Bharuch district of Gujarat has revealed how callously dangerous waste is managed in the country. In what could have been an industrial disaster worse than the Bhopal gas tragedy, 250 tonnes of hazardous chemicals and oil kept in barrels at Bharuch Enviro Infrastructure Limited (beil)—of which pesticide giant United Phosphorus is a major equity shareholder—went up in smoke on the evening of April 3. The godown had stored over 12,800 tonnes of hazardous chemical solvents and waste oil, which far exceed the capacity of its incinerator.
“Had it not been for the change in wind direction within 10 minutes of the fire, it could have spread to and destroyed all the nearby factories in the Gujarat Industrial Development Corporation (gidc) and villages”
says Manoj Kotadia, manager, fire and safety, Disaster Prevention and Management Centre, Ankleshwar. Continue reading »
Filed under Environment, India, Pollution, Travel | Tags: Bharuch, Chemical Industry, Chemical Leakages, Gujarat, Hazardous Industry, Hazardous Waste, Health Effects, India, Legislation, Pesticide Industry, Waste Disposal, Waste Incineration | Comment (0)