MP High Court order faces criticism in Ankleshwar

VADODARA: Villagers in Jitali and surrounding villages near Ankleshwar have decided to launch an agitation opposing the Madhya Pradesh High Court order allowing the disposal of 346 tonnes of toxic waste of the Union Carbide at a unit there.

As per the High Court order, Union Carbide waste is to be disposed off at a plant called BEIL (Bharuch Enviro Infra Ltd) at Ankleshwar.

Jitali gram panchayat 'upsarpanch' (deputy village headman) Mehboob Bhai and other office bearers of the panchayat claimed this would risk the lives of the people staying just 500 meters away from BEIL.

They claimed the facilities there were not enough to take care of toxic waste and demanded court officials should visit Ankleshwar for verification.

Chairman of water works committee of the village, Siraj Keli claimed that people want that waste should be incinerated before disposal at Ankleshwar so that they can avoid any possible hazard.

Meanwhile, Rohit Prajapati of Vadoara based Paryavaran Suraksha Samiti criticising the order of the High Court, asked how it could direct the Government of Gujarat, "which is not a party in the case".

Sources in Gujarat Pollution Control Board said that it has its own backlog of 7,000 tonnes of toxic waste waiting to be incinerated at BEIL and asked how could they allow solid waste from another state for disposal.