Bhopal Incident : India Never Learn

1. Three accident took place in June, barely a month after Narendra Modi formed the government: a gas explosion in the Bhilai steel plant killed six and injured 30; a pipeline blast near Nagaram village in Andhra Pradesh killed 17 and a gas leak at a state-run plant in Kollam in Kerala sent 130 children to hospital.


2. According to the National Disaster Management Authority (NDMA), there are 1,861 “major accident hazard” units across the country, not counting unorganised sectors dealing with a range of hazardous material. It says 130 “significant chemical accidents” were reported in India during 1999-2009, and 20 in the last four years.


3. According to NDMA, India is vulnerable to emergencies of biological as well as nuclear origin.


4. The proposed world’s largest nuclear plant at Jaitapur in Maharasthra is only 10km from a geological fault capable of generating 6.5 magnitude quake, says Vinod Gaur, a renowned seismologist in Bengaluru.