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The Times of India March 10, 2005 BITTER PIL: IN TSUNAMI TIMES, BARC A HAZARD Swati Deshpande Times News Network MUMBAI: Public concern following the tsunami disaster has focused attention on the radiation levels in Thane creek and the nuclear weapons-related activities of the Bhabha Atomic Research Centre (Barc) being conducted bang in the middle of an urban jungle. A public interest litigation filed by a voluntary organisation, Citizens For A Just Society, highlights the dangers posed by three major geological fault lines that criss-cross the city and neighbouring areas. The PIL, which came up before the Bombay High Court on Wednesday, seeks - among other reliefs - the transfer of the Barc's nuclear weapons-related activities and its plutonium reprocessing operations from Trombay to some remote area far from the city, as is international practice. The Central government has urged the high court to grant it four weeks to file its reply, as the petition raises serious issues. The matter has been deferred to April 6. The PIL took shape after TOI carried a news article outlining the fault lines running under Thane creek, which separates Mumbai from Navi Mumbai. B K Subbarao, counsel for the petitioner and a former scientist, drafted the petition. He said the Centre and its heavyweight agencies - the Atomic Energy Commission, Department of Atomic Energy, BARC and Atomic Energy Regulatory Board - have a constitutional obligation to protect citizens from any likely disaster that could occur due to the fault lines under Thane creek. The concern expressed was that Barc - a huge, premier multi-disciplinary nuclear establishment - is located on the west bank of the Thane creek, which has a fault line snaking under it. The PIL states that the Barc discharges radioactive nuclear waste into the creek. From the other side of the creek, India's biggest industrial belt (the Thane-Belapur industrial belt) discharges chemical pollutants into the water. Pointing out that the creek bed has become radioactive due to the nuclear effluents and could pose a danger to sea life, the PIL demands an independent inquiry to study radiation levels there. The PIL also questions the exclusion of the Barc from the AERB's monitoring net since 2000 in matters relating to nuclear safety. India is a signatory to the international convention on nuclear safety and was one of the first nations to ratify the convention, the PIL states. This does not conform to the decision to take Barc out of the regulatory control of the AERB, it notes. o o o o Rediff.com March 10, 2005 Shift nuclear facility from Trombay: PIL [PTI] A public interest litigation petition has sought the shifting of the Nuclear Weapon Development Establishment, situated within the Bhabha Atomic Research Centre, from the densely populated Trombay. A division bench of the Bombay high court, comprising Chief Justice Dalveer Bhandari and Justice S A Bobade, on Thursday directed the Central government to file its reply by April 6. 'Citizens for a Just Society' stated that BARC was situated on the earthquake zone. In case of any disaster, NWDE would emit nuclear radiations into the environment, which would have harmful effect on the population. The waste disposed in the Thane creek by the nuclear facility contaminated water and affected marine life, including fish, which were consumed by people in the area. The waste cause diseases like cancer, leukemia, stillbirth, deformation and mental retardation, according to the petition. The PIL also urged that the BARC be once again brought under the purview of the Atomic Energy Regulatory Board. The BARC was removed from the purview of the AERB in April 2000 when P Chidambaram, the then chairman of the Atomic Energy Commission and Secretary of Department of Atomic Energy, declared it as the NWDE. The PIL also sought the appointment of an independent committee to measure the level of radiation in the Thane creek bed, seawater, soil and also in the shore of the creek. _________________________________ SOUTH ASIANS AGAINST NUKES (SAAN): An informal information platform for activists and scholars concerned about Nuclearisation in South Asia South Asians Against Nukes Mailing List: archives are available @ two locations May 1998 - March 2002: <groups.yahoo.com/group/sap/messages/1> Feb. 2001 - to date: <groups.yahoo.com/group/SAAN_/messages/1> To subscribe send a blank message to: <[EMAIL PROTECTED]> South Asians Against Nukes Website: www.s-asians-against-nukes.org SOUTH ASIANS AGAINST NUKES (SAAN): An informal information platform for activists and scholars concerned about the dangers of Nuclearisation in South Asia SAAN Website: http://www.s-asians-against-nukes.org SAAN Mailing List: To subscribe send a blank message to: [EMAIL PROTECTED] SAAN Mailing List Archive : http://groups.yahoo.com/group/SAAN_/ ________________________________ DISCLAIMER: Opinions expressed in materials carried in the posts do not necessarily reflect the views of SAAN compilers. 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