Bhopal(Madhya Pradesh): Stating that 29% of Bhopal Gas Tragedy survivors’ communities are still getting drinking water with foul smell due to contamination, Bhopal Group for Information & Action (BGIA), an organisation working for the communities, has demanded monitoring of the water quality and supply of uncontaminated water to them.
In a letter written to executive chairman, MP Legal Services Authority, justice Sheel Nagu and member secretary of the Authority Rajiv Karmahe, a member of BGIA, Rachna Dhingra, has requested convening of an urgent meeting to discuss issues of water supply, non-compliance of SC order and further checking spread of contamination.
Dhingra has said, “The monitoring committee is supposed to oversee the provision of piped water supply in communities affected by groundwater contamination, quality of water supply, spread of contamination and compliance of SC orders. Due to the pandemic, meeting and field visits of the committee has not been possible.”
She said the Supreme Court had clearly stipulated that water samples for quarterly monitoring reports should be collected in presence of other members of the committee.
Currently Bhopal Municipal Corporation (BMC) collects these samples without informing any member and without presence of any member and these samples are testing in their own labs, she said. She said, “We request the monitoring committee that next water sample collection for quality testing happens in presence of BGIA and other members of the committee and these samples should be analysed in Department of Public Health Engineering (PHE) or MP Pollution Control Board (MPPCB) lab and not the BMC lab as they have a direct conflict of interest in hiding the contamination in samples.”
She said as far as status of status of piped water supply in 42 communities situated around Union Carbide factory affected by groundwater contamination was concerned 29% of communities were still getting piped water with foul smell due to contamination of water by sewage line in several places while 71% of communities had insufficient pressure in water line which deprived hundreds of households of clean drinking water.
