Uranium-poisoned villagers point to Irresponsible India
BBC has done a exposé on how a village in Jharkhand has been affected by nuclear wastes from the Uranium mining that goes on there. The village of Jaduguda boasts the most important (and the only?) uranium mine in India.
State-owned Uranium Corporation of India Limited (UCIL) is the owner of the mines and brought prosperity to this otherwise anonymous village by adding jobs, housing and wealth to its workers. But, it may have also brought more than its share of misery alongwith the prosperity.
After India’s successful nuclear tests in 1998, the inhabitants of Jaduguda celebrated in gaiety what they regarded as “their own” bomb, for it was built literally out of their soil. But their celebrations were in vain.
(Source: All pictures in this article are from the BBC)
I saw some of them. They were digging for water. Each bucket they brought to the surface was brown ooze. So they dug deeper.
Above
them, barely a stone’s throw from their makeshift well, there was a
wall. The wall of a dam - behind which lie millions of tons of slurry
and waste from the uranium pits.
And, in the river which runs past Jaduguda, I saw villagers washing their vegetables.
Upstream, the river’s waters mingle with the murky outflow from the mine workings.
There
are no signs to warn of contamination. Just as there are no signs on
the trucks which carry uranium ore from the mines or bring nuclear
waste from across India for dumping.
So UCIL mines for Uranium much in the open, discards toxic nuclear wastes that ooze into the nearby river which is the main source of water to the villagers.
The local activists did not keep quiet; they launched a court case. But the UCIL has argued that the problem is not with their safety record, but with the lack of hygiene amongst villagers - humans have traditionally washed themselves, clothes, vegetables and everything in river waters and were never accustomed to expect nuclear wastes in the waters which could potentially kill their children! But UCIL has had the audacity to blame the villagers’ hygiene. So the mines are still working - bringing prosperity and terrible misery to the villagers.
India boasts of strengths in many spheres - nuclear bombs, nuclear power, space missions, satellite lauches, healthcare, IT, technology etc. But if it does not improve its Safety record especially in industrial and corporate situations, it remains amongst the countries that do not care for its workers.
What use boasting about bombs and power from uranium and asking for more from the USA when we cannot keep our own backyards clean?
How do you feel about this - say below.
Related Articles |
This is truely terrible, greater controls are needed for all mining activity not just uranium mining