The ‘sab chalta hai’ approach of the executioners of government policies was responsible for the world’s worst industrial disaster, the Bhopal gas tragedy of 1984.But the government hasn’t learnt its lessons. Else, Thursday’s Mayapuri (west Delhi) accident, in which a scrap dealer and his four employees were rendered incapacitated after coming in contact with a radioactive material, Cobalt 60, would not have happened.Persistent inertia resulted in the nuclear material making its way into the garbage imported in shipping containers and transported unchecked to Delhi. Mayapuri is a warning. Here, it’s worth recalling the Atomic Energy Regulatory Board (AERB) report submitted to the Supreme Court (SC) 5 years ago that import of hazardous material led to radiation from finished products. It also insisted that every importer of metal scrap should obtain a certificate from the exporting country that the scrap is free from radioactivity. Ironically, a multilayer radiation check system proposed by AERB to prevent import and export of radioactive material has not been implemented. The government’s love for violators is not only misplaced but it’s also beyond comprehension. This unwarranted sympathy was on full display when Research Foundation for Science, Technology and Natural Resource Policy charged that a ship, Blue Lady, had been allowed to dock at the Alang port in Gujarat for dismantling, though it contained radioactive material.

COMMERCIAL BREAK
SCROLL TO CONTINUE READING

The government and the shipbreaking industry contested that the ship didn’t carry lethal material. SC directed AERB to inspect it. On August 16, 2006, the nuclear watchdog confirmed Blue Lady contained radioactive material. This was good enough to send the ship back to its country, but that wasn’t done. In a quick development, AERB and Gujarat Maritime Board gave a clean chit to the vessel, saying it was beached at Alang and thus “no more contains any radioactive material onboard”.

The case is an example of the Centre’s contaminated policy, as it feels that import of toxics helps generate jobs.