History, million tonne of toxic waste hang over gas memorial

Bhopal: The state govt's announcement for developing the 87-acre deserted factory premises has brought into renewed focus the construction of Bhopal gas tragedy memorial at the site but the spectre of around 1.2 million tonnes of toxic waste still hangs over the project. The project has seen cost escalations too over the years and it might further increase.The idea of a memorial, mooted in the 1990s by then chief minister Digvijaya Singh, has more or less remained on paper since then. In fact, there are glitches in translating the idea into a reality on ground— remediation of the Union Carbide factory site being the biggest of them all. Activists say that the idea of the memorial has been floated multiple times but the renewed excitement soon fizzles out each time in face of remediation of the site.Deputy secretary in the gas relief department, K K Dubey, when asked about the possibility of undertaking the project for construction of the gas tragedy memorial at the Carbide factory site, said. "It would be too early to say anything in this regard. I know the project has been delayed too much but there is said to be over a million metric tonne of toxic waste buried in the land within the premises and until the clean up of the site is done, there can be no construction at the site. In 2010, a study was commissioned carried out by NEERI, IITR and NGRI, which had found approximately 1.2 million tonnes of toxic waste lying in the premises but the matter is in the high court."He added, "The packaged waste of 337 metric tonne, collected from above the ground has been incinerated at Peethampur facility and now it depends on the further direction of the high court," he said.Dubey, when asked what could be the design of the memorial, said that memorial would be built in 15-20 acres and the land is 87-acre, so a broader view will have to be applied on how to develop the entire premises and the chief minister is perhaps talking in that sense.Co-convener of Bhopal Group for Information & Action (BGIA) Rachna Dhingra said that every time a CM goes to Carbide premises, media asks him question on construction of Bhopal gas tragedy memorial at the site and he says "Yes, it will be done soon" and there is renewed excitement over the issue but fact of the matter is there can be no construction at the site without remediation of the factory site.On Hiroshima ParallelsRachna further said if the memorial has to come up in the lines of Hiroshima and Nagasaki, peoples' participation is also a must. "Would the govt confess the mistakes it made and the ‘betrayal' with the gas victims in the course of last 40 years. The Japanese govt has admitted to its mistakes during World War II in that memorial,would the govt in MP do it?" she asked.The NGOs working with gas survivors say that if you go and ask a gas victim how he/she visualises the tragedy, they would start talking of medical care, clean drinking water and employment, which is their first priority and not a memorial.Former minister for gas relief and local MLA Vishwas Sarang, "I welcome the chief minister's initiative. A broad plan of what the memorial should be like is ready and when I was the gas relief minister, we also got Rs 100-150 crore sanctioned for the project."From Rs 10 Cr To Rs 100 Cr: Cost Escalations, Delays Over The YearsAs far as funding for the project is concerned, former union minister of state for chemicals and fertilizers, Srikant Kumar Jena in reply to a question on Dec 25, 2025 said that the state govt submitted an initial proposal in Dec 2005 for building a memorial, with an estimated cost of Rs. 70 crore. Upon review, they were directed to seek funding directly from the Planning Commission.Subsequently, the Planning Commission sanctioned a one-time additional central assistance of Rs 10 crore to the MP govt during 2006-07. In Nov 2009, the state govt presented a revised proposal, increasing the estimated cost to Rs 116.18 crore. Former gas relief minister Vishwas Sarang said an amount of Rs 100-150 crore was sanctioned but official sources said that Rs 100 crore in addition to Rs 10 crore sanctioned earlier was promised but as the project gets delayed, its cost is likely to escalate further.