Union Carbide building to be demolished: Centre

Union environment minister Jairam Ramesh on Wednesday said the centre is contemplating demolition of the building of the defunct Union Carbide factory where the 1984 Bhopal gas tragedy took place. He also revealed that the Defence Research and Development Organisation (DRDO) has shown interest in clearing the 350 tonnes of toxic waste in the factory.

“Though the state government and NGOs wants to preserve a part (of the factory) from where the gas leaked as monument, the Centre and the Group of Ministers (GoMs) on Bhopal gas tragedy want to raze the building of the Union Carbide factory due to mercury contamination,” Ramesh told reporters in Bhopal.

He, however, cleared that a final decision would be taken only in July-August after the state government and NGOs present their case before the Centre.

The minister said the state government and the NGOs were free to put their point across and make a presentation against demolition.

Meanwhile, stating that DRDO is interested in clearing of the 350 tonnes of toxic waste from the Union Carbide factory premises without harming environment, Jairam Ramesh said “DRDO has shown interest and we are going to take that interest forward. There will be discussion on this.

“The laboratory of DRDO is situated 40 km from Nagpur,” he said.