Bhopal Tragedy Site to Get Peace Memorial; New Toxicity Study Planned

 Bhopal: A ‘Peace Memorial’ in the line of the one built in Hiroshima in Japan, devastated by atomic bombings in 1945, is coming up at 64-acre-area here where the killer Union Carbide factory remains abandoned, acting as an enduring testimony to one of the world’s worst industrial catastrophes.

The Madhya Pradesh government has begun the exercise to prepare a masterplan to build a ‘Peace Memorial’ in the 64-acre area, to relive the horrific incident of Bhopal gas tragedy caused by the leakage of the deadly methyl isocyanate (MIC) in the Union Carbide factory in the intervening night of December two-three, 1984, leading to death of more than 15,000 people.

The decision follows the visit of chief minister Mohan Yadav to the abandoned factory site three days ago.

“The memorial will be built to pay tribute to those killed in the Bhopal gas tragedy of 1984”, a senior officer of the Madhya Pradesh government said on Monday.

A museum is also proposed to be established at the site to showcase the horrific industrial legacy of the historical city of Bhopal in form of the gas tragedy of 1984, the tragedy and the trauma brought by the incident upon the people and how Bhopal has since moved on to become a modern city, the officer said.

The landmark event of shifting 348 tonnes of toxic waste, stored for nearly four decades at the abandoned factory site, to the incineration facility at Pithampur, around 200 km away, a year ago, will also be showcased in the proposed museum, the officer said.

The shifting of the toxic remains from the defunct Union Carbide factory site has helped Bhopal shun the tag of the gas tragedy, attached to it for over four decades.

The removal of the toxic waste has also paved the way for the next phase of sanitization exercise at the site by the state government by reassessing the soil contamination in and around Union Carbide factory premises, the officer said.

The study on fresh assessment of contamination in the area may take a couple of years, he said.

The move for the fresh assessment of contamination in the area is being undertaken as per the recommendations by the Central Oversight Committee in June 2023.

A government report of 2010 had indicated the presence of 11 lakh tonnes of contaminated soil, one ton of mercury, and nearly 150 tonnes of underground waste, besides the 337 tonnes of toxic waste stored at the abandoned factory site.