India's environmental problems

Activist on the removal of the deadly poison: "A farce"

Environmental activists and residents of Bhopal, India, are strongly critical of the removal of 337 tons of toxic waste 40 years after the world's deadliest industrial accident. This is reported by international media.

- There are 1.1 million tons of waste that they refuse to acknowledge and that continue to leak poison into the ground every day, says Rachna Dhingra from the organization International Campaign for Justice in Bhopal.

She calls the measure, which was carried out on the orders of a court, "a farce" and questions the fact that the companies Union Carbide and Dow Chemicals have never been held accountable. 

Deadly waste removed 40 years after gas disaster

337 tons of toxic waste were removed from a chemical plant in central India on Wednesday – 40 years after the world's deadliest industrial accident. The BBC reports.

More than 3,500 people died in the city of Bhopal when toxic gases leaked from the plant in December 1984. Authorities estimate that the leak has since killed another 15,000 people. Since the accident, the substances have remained in the abandoned plant, contaminating groundwater and the surrounding environment.

On December 3, the 40th anniversary of the disaster, a court ruled that the toxic waste must be removed within a month. Despite the fact that 40 years have passed since the accident, the authorities are still characterized by "passivity," the court wrote.

However, activists and neighbors are concerned that the movement of the toxins will lead to further spread of toxins in the surrounding area and at the new drop-off location.