KashifAsrar
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News update in ToI, dated 13th May 2007.
Kashif
Leaks Adversely Affecting Villagers, Threatening Environment
Sonali Das | TNN
Jadugoda (East Singbhum):
When the world was getting ready to celebrate Christmas last year, residents of Dungridih, a small tribal village in Jharkhandâs East Singbhum district, helplessly watched drops of deadly uranium waste spilling into a nearby stream. The stream was the lifeline of the village. People used its water for bathing and washing their utensils.
Frogs and fish in the water started gasping for breath and died within a few hours. Alarmed by the steady flow of the radioactive waste, villagers alerted the Uranium Corporation of India Limited management - in charge of the Jadugoda mines - about a possible leak in the pipes that carry the uranium slurry to the tailing ponds situated around at least 15 villages in the area. Being a Sunday, no action was taken immediately and it was only towards the evening that the flow was cut off.
ââBy that time, enough of the toxic waste had spilled into the stream and the Digrih dam that meets the Subarnarekha river downstream,ââ says Ghanshyam Biruli, who heads the Jharkhand Organisation Against Radiation (JOAR).
The Jadugoda mines, which stand just 20 km away from Jamshedpur, are the lifeline of Indiaâs nuclear programme. But this was not the first time the toxic waste has leaked out here. According to reports, a tailing dam had burst open in 1986 and the spill had flown into adjacent villages.
ââLeaking pipes are nothing new here. In fact, there is a leak - big or small - almost every day,ââ says Biruli. The mines were first excavated in 1967 and the pipes, too, are 40 years old and need to be replaced immediately.
The dilemma is, while the mines are a source of livelihood for tribals, it has also spelt death, devastation and misery for them. Members of almost every household in the 15 tribal hamlets close to the tailing ponds and mines of Jadugoda, Bhatin and Narwapahar suffer from some disease. While tuberculosis is the most common ailment, physically and mentally challenged children are born f re q u e n t ly. Skin diseases are another scourge the villages have to contend with.
ââOf every 100 women at least 45 have miscarriages. Even if they give birth, the children are either deformed or die early,ââ says Dilip Murmu of Chatikocha village. The mortality rate is high here and nobody lives beyond the age of 50, claimed Sumitra Soren.
The hilly area - rich in forests and home to deer, elephants and monkeys - have been deserted by most animals. The liquid waste in the tailing ponds dries up under the hot summer sun and the dust is blown into the villages when there is a storm. Though a UCIL board warns villagers to stay away from the tailing ponds, illiterate villagers are often oblivious to the danger and tread close to the ponds, inviting health hazards from radiation.
Human settlement is prohibited within five km of the ponds, but this rule is flouted rampantly. Trucks that carry the ore to the mills are often left uncovered. At times the dangerous ore falls off the vehicles.
UCIL authorities at Jadugoda brush aside the allegations of negligence or violation of radiation norms. Admitting that the rubber pipes are old and worn down, authorities, however, claim that pipes are replaced from time to time.
P V Dubey, the company secretary denied that the company had reacted late to the pipe leak. He said that central industrial security force (CISF) personnel - and not villagers - had detected the leak first by noticing the fall in the pressure gauge meter at the pumping station.
They alerted UCIL authorities immediately and switched off the errant pump.
ââThere was no burst pipe. A small hole at the joint of a pipe was detected and all steps were taken to ensure that there were no traces of the slurry in the village stream or its periphery,ââ says A C Kundu, executive director (mining). According to the officials, UCIL has also put up earthen walls surrounding the pipes to ensure that no spill reaches the villages in future.
Kundu claims that the radiation from the mines, mills and tailing ponds was much lower than permissible international standards and that the diseases were a mere coincidence. However, authorities could not produce any scientific report to corroborate their claims.
Kashif
Uranium mines a source of life and death for tribals
Leaks Adversely Affecting Villagers, Threatening Environment
Sonali Das | TNN
Jadugoda (East Singbhum):
When the world was getting ready to celebrate Christmas last year, residents of Dungridih, a small tribal village in Jharkhandâs East Singbhum district, helplessly watched drops of deadly uranium waste spilling into a nearby stream. The stream was the lifeline of the village. People used its water for bathing and washing their utensils.
Frogs and fish in the water started gasping for breath and died within a few hours. Alarmed by the steady flow of the radioactive waste, villagers alerted the Uranium Corporation of India Limited management - in charge of the Jadugoda mines - about a possible leak in the pipes that carry the uranium slurry to the tailing ponds situated around at least 15 villages in the area. Being a Sunday, no action was taken immediately and it was only towards the evening that the flow was cut off.
ââBy that time, enough of the toxic waste had spilled into the stream and the Digrih dam that meets the Subarnarekha river downstream,ââ says Ghanshyam Biruli, who heads the Jharkhand Organisation Against Radiation (JOAR).
The Jadugoda mines, which stand just 20 km away from Jamshedpur, are the lifeline of Indiaâs nuclear programme. But this was not the first time the toxic waste has leaked out here. According to reports, a tailing dam had burst open in 1986 and the spill had flown into adjacent villages.
ââLeaking pipes are nothing new here. In fact, there is a leak - big or small - almost every day,ââ says Biruli. The mines were first excavated in 1967 and the pipes, too, are 40 years old and need to be replaced immediately.
The dilemma is, while the mines are a source of livelihood for tribals, it has also spelt death, devastation and misery for them. Members of almost every household in the 15 tribal hamlets close to the tailing ponds and mines of Jadugoda, Bhatin and Narwapahar suffer from some disease. While tuberculosis is the most common ailment, physically and mentally challenged children are born f re q u e n t ly. Skin diseases are another scourge the villages have to contend with.
ââOf every 100 women at least 45 have miscarriages. Even if they give birth, the children are either deformed or die early,ââ says Dilip Murmu of Chatikocha village. The mortality rate is high here and nobody lives beyond the age of 50, claimed Sumitra Soren.
The hilly area - rich in forests and home to deer, elephants and monkeys - have been deserted by most animals. The liquid waste in the tailing ponds dries up under the hot summer sun and the dust is blown into the villages when there is a storm. Though a UCIL board warns villagers to stay away from the tailing ponds, illiterate villagers are often oblivious to the danger and tread close to the ponds, inviting health hazards from radiation.
Human settlement is prohibited within five km of the ponds, but this rule is flouted rampantly. Trucks that carry the ore to the mills are often left uncovered. At times the dangerous ore falls off the vehicles.
UCIL authorities at Jadugoda brush aside the allegations of negligence or violation of radiation norms. Admitting that the rubber pipes are old and worn down, authorities, however, claim that pipes are replaced from time to time.
P V Dubey, the company secretary denied that the company had reacted late to the pipe leak. He said that central industrial security force (CISF) personnel - and not villagers - had detected the leak first by noticing the fall in the pressure gauge meter at the pumping station.
They alerted UCIL authorities immediately and switched off the errant pump.
ââThere was no burst pipe. A small hole at the joint of a pipe was detected and all steps were taken to ensure that there were no traces of the slurry in the village stream or its periphery,ââ says A C Kundu, executive director (mining). According to the officials, UCIL has also put up earthen walls surrounding the pipes to ensure that no spill reaches the villages in future.
Kundu claims that the radiation from the mines, mills and tailing ponds was much lower than permissible international standards and that the diseases were a mere coincidence. However, authorities could not produce any scientific report to corroborate their claims.
