Delhi sitting on 100 bombs, many live

NEW DELHI: Delhi is literally sitting on a bomb. Actually, around 100 of them. They are sand-bagged at the inland container depot ( ICD) in Tughlakabad for six years now. What's worse, no one except the Army knows how many bombs are live. And it's not sharing the information, claim officials.

The bombs came as scrap from war-torn Iraq in 2004, and went undetected both at the Mumbai port and the ICD. A blast in a Haryana factory, where part of the scrap was delivered, alerted the Container Corporation of India (Concor) to the problem.

A senior railway official said the consignment had come through a railway container and was heading to various places in north India for melting. "Shockingly, these odd 100 explosives were detected neither at the Mumbai port or the Tughlakabad depot. Officials woke up to the problem when one of these bombs exploded in a furnace unit somewhere in Haryana. Customs officials then searched the consignment thoroughly and isolated the bombs to one corner of the 10,000 square metre warehouse. In 2005, sandbags were put up around the bombs and the area secured," he said.

The Army was called in to defuse the bombs and it insisted on insurance before taking up the job. The paperwork was completed only in 2009. The Army is now ready but a 2 sq km area can't be found in the city to defuse the bombs. Alli Rani, Concor CPRO, said a committee comprising all stakeholders was formed and asked to give its inputs. "The Army officials visited the spot in 2009 but could not decide which spot to choose to neutralise the bombs. We came close to deciding a spot at least thrice but it was scrapped at the last moment. The Commonwealth Games came and we decided to delay the operation due to security reasons," said Rani.

Sources said the Army, after inspections, said the bombs could not be disposed of near the warehouses. "They said they needed a sufficiently big open space to complete the job and since these explosives have to be carried over manually, they also demanded that they be insured. Initially, Customs and Concor had been at loggerheads over who would bear the costs but finally Concor decided to foot the bill," said a source.

When contacted, DCP (southeast) O P Mishra said that it was "an old problem". "All efforts are on to find an area where the Army can dispose of these shells," he told TOI.

Rani added there was "little to worry about". "There is just too much hype around the entire issue. We want to assure everyone working or living in the vicinity of this area is absolutely safe. No part of Delhi is under danger."