Clean-up 40 years after Bhopal disaster is 'greenwashing', say campaigners

Forty years after one of world's deadliest industrial disasters struck the Indian city of Bhopal, a clean-up operation has finally begun to remove hundreds of tonnes of toxic waste from the site.

- Hannah Ellis-Petersen

Local campaigners have accused the Indian government of greenwashing, arguing that the 337 tonnes of waste removed this week represents less than 1% of the more than 1m tonnes of hazardous materials left after the disaster and that the clean-up has done nothing to tackle chemical contamination of the area.

There have also been protests over fears that the incineration of the waste will only lead to further contamination and toxic exposure in other areas.

At about midnight on 2 December 1984, the Union Carbide chemical plant in Bhopal exploded, releasing 40 tonnes of toxic methyl isocyanate and other lethal gases into the air.

More than 3,000 people were killed in the immediate aftermath and at least 25,000 are estimated to have died overall.

Local groups have claimed the true number is probably even higher given the long-term effects of the poisonous gas, which include high rates of cancers, kidney and lung diseases.

High numbers of babies have been stillborn or born with severe disabilities in recent years.

Despite the scale of the industrial disaster, a proper operation to remove all the toxic waste from Bhopal has never been carried out, either by the US company Union Carbide, now owned by Dow Chemicals, which was the majority owner of the factory at the time, or by the Indian government, which took back control of the land where the factory stood.

Rights groups have accused the US corporations and the Indian government of attempting to play down the lasting impact of Bhopal's untouched chemical debris.