UCIL plant to be converted into Bhopal gas tragedy memorial

A Rs 180 crore memorial along the lines of Hiroshima Memorial will be built at the premises of defunct Union Carbide India Limited (UCIL) pesticide plant here, a Madhya Pradesh Minister said on Sunday.

"Like Hiroshima Memorial, a memorial of the 1984 Bhopal gas tragedy will be built," Minister of State for Bhopal Gas Tragedy Relief and Rehabilitation Vishvas Sarang said here after inspecting the defunct factory.

He said that the structure has been planned and the construction should begin in two-three months.

Sarang said that the work to remove the toxic waste at the plant has also begun. As an experiment, the Pithampur-based Ramky Enviro Engineers Ltd. has removed 10 tonnes of highly toxic industrial waste from the plant.

He said the Madhya Pradesh government will request the Central Pollution Control Board to remove the remaining waste.

The Bhopal gas tragedy, considered the world's worst industrial disaster, occurred on the intervening night of December 2-3, 1984 at the UCIL plant here with over 500,000 people were exposed to methyl isocyanate (MIC) gas and other toxic chemicals. The immediate toll was 2,259 but the later the government put the toll at 3,787 while the health of thousands of others was affected.

--IANS

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