40 Years After Bhopal Tragedy, Disposal Of Toxic Waste Poses Cancer Threat

Bhopal gas tragedy: The quantity to be disposed represents just 5 per cent of the total hazardous waste.

Forty years after the Bhopal gas tragedy, its toxic waste cocktail is brewing afresh. About 350 metric tons of hazardous waste from the Union Carbide factory is set to be disposed of at the Treatment Storage Disposal Facility in Pithampur, Indore. The facility, though, has failed six previous tests on whether it can contain the emission which poses a significant cancer risk. And the cost will be far higher.

Twelve years ago, a German company, GIZ, offered to cart off the waste to Germany and dispose of it for Rs 22 crore. Disposing of the waste will now cost Rs 126 crore -- six-times the previous estimate.