New Delhi, July 15 (IANS) The Central Pollution Control Board (CPCB) has failed to file a report in the Supreme Court on the status of groundwater contamination at the Union Carbide plant site in Bhopal, an environmental group said Sunday.
The pollution control board was asked by the apex court to submit the report by June 4 but in a letter to Toxics Watch Alliance (TWA), Vijay Panjwani, Supreme Court lawyer for CPCB, said that the report is not yet ready.
“CPCB would file report (on groundwater contamination by Dow’s Bhopal plant) as soon it is ready. There is no reason for CPCB to hold back or delay filing of report on contaminated groundwater near the Union Carbide plant in Bhopal,” the letter said.
According to the TWA, test results of the groundwater samples after the rains will not be credible due to dilution by rains.
“Although the deadline has been over by more than a month, the report with regard to the removal of contamination of the ground water in the area where the factory is situated has not been filed,” said Gopal Krishna of TWA.
Krishna said the report in question is of huge significance and involves public interest.
“This will reveal the status of the adverse impact of industrial disaster in UCC’s Bhopal chemical pesticide plant. All the environmental and human rights groups concerned with the issue are anxiously waiting for the report,” he said.
TWA has requested CPCB to submit its report latest by July 31, 2012.
“In case of CPCB’s failure, legal action will be pursued to ensure that Supreme Court’s orders are complied with,” he added.
