Delay in hazardous waste disposal abuse of right to health: NHRC chief

New Delhi, December 10

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Tonnes of hazardous waste is lying at the 1984 Bhopal gas tragedy site and delay in its disposal contaminates groundwater and soil, which is a “direct abuse” of the right to health of survivors and locals, the NHRC chairperson, Justice (retd) Arun Kumar Mishra said on Saturday.

Addressing a Human Rights Day event here, hosted by the National Human Rights Commission (NHRC), he said one outfall of globalisation was the concentration of wealth in the hands of transnational companies and a few countries. A written message on Human Rights Day from Prime Minister Narendra Modi was read out by a senior NHRC official on the occasion.

“For calamities caused by industrial disasters, transnational enterprises’ responsibilities have to be well defined,” the NHRC chief asserted. He cited the Bhopal gas tragedy, which took place at a global company’s plant in Bhopal in 1984, considered one of the world’s worst industrial disasters.

The company, Union Carbide, faced global criticism following the tragedy.

Justice Mishra said, “Approximately 3,000 people died. Around 336 tonnes of hazardous waste is still lying on the premises. Delay in the disposal of such hazardous waste by a multinational company contaminates groundwater and soil and is a direct abuse of the right to health of the survivors and residents of the area.” His remarks come days after the 38th anniversary of the deadly incident in the Madhya Pradesh capital. Toxic gas leaking from Union Carbide’s pesticide factory killed thousands in Bhopal on the chilly night of December 2-3, 1984.