BEIL statement re Down to Earth articles
25 March 2009
Business & Human Rights Resource Centre invited BEIL to respond to two recent articles in
Down to Earth magazine, alleging that BEIL has failed to comply with toxic waste storage
guidelines,, available at:
-
To hot to handle, Down to Earth, 28 February 2009
http://www.downtoearth.org.in/cover.asp?foldername=20090228&filename=news&sid
= 47&sec_id=9
-
Where is the punishment?, Down to Earth, 28 February 2009
http://www.downtoearth.org.in/popup_full.asp?foldername=20090228&filename=new
s&sid=49
In response, BEIL provided the following statement:
I am making paragraph wise comments on the cover story ‘Too hot to handle’ in
Down to Earth February ’09 issue.
There was a fire but now we have got the information that this fire was initiated by
some NGO, who had bribed a factory worker. As BEIL was planning to incinerate
300 MT waste from Bhopal and they were insisted that this waste should go out of
India and BEIL should not incinerate it.
There was a fire because we were storing material, which can be easily incinerated but
the ash fell around is not correct. The statement that the people in nearby villages
suffered coughing, headache, nausea, burning sensation in the nose & throat, is
outright lie.
The First Class Judicial Magistrate in Ankleshwar had sent Mr. D.M. Jadeja, Chief
Inspector of Police, Ankleshwar. His report is very clear. He met the villagers and
found that not a single person or their cattle have been affected. The rumors were
spread that the villagers have to evacuate the village & even there was a phone call
from the Home Ministry that the whole Ankleshwar town would be destroyed. As a
matter of fact no villagers were ready to move inspite of the District Collector’s
warning.
The statement that the disaster was worst than Bhopal gas tragedy, it shows how
irresponsible these environmental journalists are. By this fire not a single person or
human being was affected, whereas in Bhopal gas tragedy thousands of people died.
Even when all the facts are available, these magazines like to exaggerate. When 107
MT material was burnt they write 250 MT of toxic industrial waste. BEIL incinerator
is very well designed and all the waste is incinerated above 1100oC and emission from
this incinerator is very regularly monitored. BEIL is giving very good services to the
industry, who were earlier not able to get rid of their waste and same waste was
illegally dumped in surrounding area, now the industry is very happy that all the waste
is collected by the BEIL incinerator & being incinerated. We had to help the industry
to store their waste in our godown.
The guidelines for the storage were not clear earlier but for your information today all
the new godowns of BEIL are State of Art with fire hydrants, water sprinkles,
warning alerts & enough space for fork lift truck between the storage drums. Earlier to
help the industry BEIL was taking material in 2nd hand old drums, which sometimes
were leaking. Now we have changed the rules.
The fact that Mr. R.K. Garg, Chairman of the Committee, who is one of most
experienced officers, who has many years of industrial experience had suggested new
guidelines. Today the same Mr. Garg says that BEIL incinerator is the best incinerator
in the country and equal to the incinerators in Europe.
The statement that the Gujarat Pollution Control Board (GPCB) had allowed 90 days
storage but BEIL is storing upto 2 years, which is mischievous statement. The Central
Pollution Control Board (CPCB) guidelines had clearly mentioned that the permission
to store up to 2 years can be given. GPCB officers were kept fully informed about the
activity in our godown.
BEIL is getting industrial waste from chemical, pharmaceutical, pesticide & even
automobile & refinery industries. After sorting out & properly landing it is
incinerated.
The statement that the exposure of Benzin is Carceogin & could be fatal, this is
irrelevant as all the material incinerated do not leave any traces of Dioxin, Furan &
other gases and test result have been regularly monitored. The national & international
experts have appreciated the excellent results of this plant.
The storage guidelines are strictly being following by BEIL incinerator.
The industry inspectors & other authorities have been given Show Cause Notice &
once the satisfactory explanation is given & proper rectification is done the question
of punishment does not arise.
It is a fact that BEIL was asked to submit the corrections, which was submitted &
more than Rs.7 crore have been spent on the upgrading & now each container has
been packed & labeled as per the categories.
According to GPCB, BEIL is supposed to store & receive the material upto 90 days,
though CPCB has given permission to store upto 180 days.
The statement that 4000 MT waste was to be incinerated in December is correct fact
and this quantity can be incinerated in less than 75 days. Since the cleaning &
reconstruction was going on the industries in surrounding areas were going to another
incinerator, which is perfectly legal.
The statement that environmental activists are now angry, the Madhya Pradesh High
Court order needs more explanation. Some of the unscrupulous environmental
elements have started spreading rumors. The rumors were spread that the BEIL
incinerator will kill people, man will become impotent, pregnant women will be
bleeding, miscarriages & children will have retarded growth etc. The NGO from Surat
& Ankleshwar were convinced & they have all written letter to the Gujarat Govt
stating that they do not see any problem in incinerating Bhopal waste in BEIL plant.
Down to Earth is talking about why criminal case is not filed against BEIL, this is a
big problem with our environmental activists they do not want the industry to do good
work. BEIL is giving excellent service in reducing the environmental hazards by
incinerating the toxic waste. There was a fire accident but not a single person was
died or injured in this accident. If a slightest accident takes place in the industry these
environmental activists pounce like vultures. After BEIL fire accident within 2
months there was a big fire in hazardous waste storage in M/s. Bayer, in USA, who is
one of the largest producers of the chemicals in the world. Only one or two people
were died & 6 got burn injuries, but no environmental activist pounce on them.
The magazine Down to Earth has also covered hazardous waste management rules &
what activities going on in the country. They should appreciate that the industry has
reason to the occasion & installing number of solid waste disposal sites as well as
incinerator.
The solid waste disposal site built at Ankleshwar is so good that the President of
BEIL Mr. Ashok Panjwani was invited to Germany to deliver a talk about the
activities done in India. This site at Ankleshwar is very good, large number of
students with the teachers, social workers, press reporters & even politicians have
visited & praised the good work done in Ankleshwar.
It is a question of mental attitude of environmental activists, they only want to see the
bad side of any good work being done.
The statement that waste disposal if properly done, is very expensive whether it is in
India, Europe or USA. The waste disposal cost comes into the production cost and
Indian incinerator plants are as good as plant in Europe or USA, only size of the plant
are large in Europe compare to India. Particularly in incinerator, larger the plant most
efficient it works and looking at the fast industrial development in India many
incinerators are expanding their capacity to meet the future demand.
They have given few stories about villagers running, 25 buffalos dying but many
times these stories are cooked up by the environmental journalists & the make from
one buffalo to 25 buffalo. The buffalo can die by natural or unnatural hazards.
The good reader should not believe these stories.
I would like to give an example that BEIL solid waste disposal site is a state of art but
one environmental journalist wrote a sensational article in Times of India, New Delhi
that pregnant women in Ankleshwar are bleeding during pregnancy, miscarriages,
children are born without genital & mentally retarded childrent. After a legal case
Times of India published an apology confirming that it was a cooked up story, so
readers should be educated not to believe such stories.
In Ankleshwar & everywhere there are transporters, who are having experience of
handling toxic & hazardous waste. Most toxic chemicals are transferred by them from
Ankleshwar or Jhagadia to the docks in Mumbai without any problem and good
experience transporter can easily transport 50-60 MT of harmless solid waste from
Bhopal to Pithampur without any problem.
The magazine has given a lot of examples & stories about landfill facilities &
objection by the environmentalists, a good well designed landfill site in the centre of
big town or small city cannot cause any problem whatsoever. Such facilities after
completion are used has recreation place. We have seen the facilities in Ankleshwar,
which are green with lawn, flowers & garden.
India is progressing fast, the incinerator, landfill site & effluent treatment plant are
coming up day by day. They are learning new techniques. We suggest that you advice
the environmental activists to help & work with the industry and other social workers
so that we have industrial development without any environmental problem. This is
possible if we do not check environmental activists, then the unemployment, poverty
& hunger will be increase in India.
In case you need any more information we will be happy to provide you the same.
Yours Sincerely,
Rajju Shroff, BEIL