Gujarat moves SC over Bhopal waste disposal order

NEW DELHI: Cleaning up the Bhopal gas tragedy site has led to a new inter-state dispute between Madhya Pradesh and Gujarat with the latter moving the Supreme Court against a Madhya Pradesh court order stating that a part of the toxic waste from Bhopal can be disposed of in a Gujarat facility.

The move follows a recent decision of the Jabalpur High Court that said that 40 tonnes of toxic waste from Bhopal could be destroyed at a facility in Ankaleswar, said an official in the ministry of chemicals and fertilisers, which handles issues related to the worst industrial disaster in the country.

The idea was to make use of chemical company United Phosphorous-owned incinerator to dispose of industrial waste. The inter-state dispute adds a new dimension to the government���s dispute with multinational petrochemical major Dow Chemicals on who should pay for rectifying the ground water contamination at the tragedy site.

The fertiliser ministry had earlier told the Jabalpur court that the ���polluter��� should pay for the cleanup. By implication, Dow Chemicals, which acquired Union Carbide Corporation that operated the Bhopal plant through its Indian subsidiary, became ���liable��� pay Rs 100 crore for remediation.

Dow rejected the demand as $470 million has already been paid to the government as the final settlement of all claims according to the Supreme Court���s directions. Dow acquired UCC in 2001, 12 years after the latter had made the payment.