Panel to identify toxic waste lying in Indian ports

NEW DELHI - A month after 92 people fell sick after chlorine gas leaked at a scrapyard in the Mumbai Port Trust (MPT), a committee has been formed to identify and dispose off all hazardous waste lying in ports across the country.

“We have found that lots of material posing a toxic hazard lies unclaimed at various ports. A committee headed by a joint secretary from environment ministry has been formed to identify and defuse these materials,” said National Disaster Management Authority (NDMA) vice chairman Gen (retd) N.C. Vij.

The former army chief said that man-made disasters are on rise due to rapid industrialisation and there is a great possibility of prevention, if necessary measures are taken.

“The NDMA has a disaster response team of 10,000 people to deal with chemical, nuclear, biological and radiological disasters,” he said.

The gas leak incident was reported on July 14. According to authorities, the cylinders - totalling 141 - were imported in 1997, but the importers had not taken delivery of the hazardous consignment, which has been lying in the open for nearly 14 years.