German company GIZ, which has offered to airlift the highly-dangerous toxic waste from Union Carbide’s Bhopal plant for disposal in Germany, has raised “doubts” about the logistic support facilities at Bhopal airport for handling of such sophisticated cargo to avoid any environment problem.

The Centre, which though had decided to engage GIZ for disposing the 350 tonnes of highly-dangerous toxic waste of methyl isocyanate left in the UCIL plant after the 1984 gas leak disaster, has left it to the company to make independent assessment of the airport facilities.

Five non-government organisations representing victims of the 1984 Bhopal gas disaster on Monday described the latest decision taken at the meeting of Group of Ministers to send 350 tonnes of hazardous waste from the abandoned Union Carbide pesticide plant to Germany for safe disposal was a vindication of their long-standing demand on the issue.

They described this as a “minor but significant victory” in their 22 year long battle. At a press conference here, the organisations pointed out that the GoM’s decision has highlighted the toxic nature of Union Carbide’s waste and the ongoing dangers posed by the thousands of tonnes of hazardous waste in and around the abandoned pesticide factory.

A German firm selected to remove toxic waste from the Bhopal gas leak site has said it would require over 4,000 special containers approved by the United Nations as well as trained experts for the

Union home minister P Chidambaram, who is heading a Group of Ministers (GoM) on Bhopal gas disaster, said here on Tuesday the group will meet on June 8 decide on the remediation of 390 metric tonne

Union Home Minister P Chidambaram, who is heading a Group of Ministers on the Bhopal gas tragedy, is unaware of the facts regarding extradition of then CEO of Union Carbide Corporation Warren Ander

Union home minister P. Chidambaram said on Tuesday that the toxic waste lying at the abandoned Union Carbide pesticide plant in the state capital has not been disposed of till now since three state governments refused to allow the disposal of hundreds of tonnes of hazardous waste in their territory.

Mr Chidambaram was addressing a press conference in the state capital after visiting the Bhopal Memorial Hospital and Research Centre (BMHRC) set up for the victims of the 1984 Bhopal gas disaster along with Union ministers — Salman Khurshid and V. Narayanasamy. Outside BMHRC, the home minister was shown black flags by some Akhil Bharatiya Vidyarthi Parsihad activists.

Leaders of five organisations of survivors of the Union Carbide disaster on Monday faxed a memorandum to Home Minister P Chidambaram a day ahead of his visit to Bhopal.

Alleging that the Group of Ministers (GoM) on the Bhopal gas tragedy had failed to keep the promises made to victims, victim organizations urged GoM chairperson and Union Home Minister P. Chidambaram to present correct figures of death and injury to provide adequate compensation, and also to treat environmental remediation as a separate issue in itself.

Home Minister P. Chidambaram, along with Minister of Law and Justice Salman Khurshid, and Minister of State for Parliamentary Affairs V. Narayansamy, will be visiting Bhopal on Tuesday, to take stock of the situation, regarding disposal of tonnes of hazardous waste lying inside the Union Carbide factory premises.

The Supreme Court has pulled up the Centre for not being serious about cleaning up the toxic waste lying around for the past 28 years at the defunct Union Carbide plant in Bhopal. At a special hearing by the Court's Vacation Bench on Monday, the Judges asked if the Government's attitude stemmed from the fact that the victims were poor.

“You are not sure even after 28 years. It is because the people affected, and living in Bhopal, are poor. It is a failure on your part to deal with this,” said the Bench, consisting of Justices G.S. Singhvi and S.J. Mukhopadhyay.

Unhappy with the continuing inaction on the issue of disposal of 350 tonnes of toxic waste lying in the defunct Union Carbide India Ltd (UCIL) plant for the last 28 years, the SC on Monday pulled u