Andhra backtracks on opening Carbide site to visitors

Even as the Madhya Pradesh government cancelled its earlier decision to open the notorious Union Carbide factory in Bhopal to the public on the 25th anniversary of the gas leak holocaust, victims of the tragedy decided to serve an unusual 'benign buffet' to legislators to counter its view that the materials still stored in the plant are no longer toxic.

The buffet will comprise exotic items like 'semi-processed pesticide on watercress' and 'lime sludge mousse'. Other items on the menu include naphthol tar fondue, reactor residue quiche, and sevin tar soufflé, with 'beau-pal' (Bhopal) water to wash it down.

The unique protest has been organised by three organisations working for the gas leak victims, which on Thursday launched a campaign to "expose those in the government working for the benefit of Dow Chemicals", the current owner of Union Carbide.

Defence Research Development Establishment (DRDE) director R Vijayraghavan and the head of the National Environmental Engineering Research Institute at Nagpur Tapan Chakravarty, who had certified Union Carbide's chemical wastes to be "orally ingestible", were also invited to the "benign buffet", which will be served on the Union Carbide road at 12 noon on Saturday.

Interestingly, after visiting the site in September, India's environment minister Jairam Ramesh told reporters, "I went inside, touched toxic material and I am still alive. I am not coughing."

The state's gas relief and rehabilitation minister Babulal Gaur had in the first week of November announced the intention to open up the premises for a week to mark the 25th anniversary of the world's worst industrial disaster that killed thousands and maimed thousands more. He wanted to show that the factory campus is perfectly safe now.
 
But the plan was opposed by the victims' organisations. The government said it would seek permission of the Madhya Pradesh high court to open up the premises. Now after the court gave its permission, the government has backtracked on the move, on the ground that the model code of conduct for the Bhopal Municipal Corporation elections is in force.