Manisha Kapse RATLAMS TOXIC LEGACY People in the villages around Ratlam are paying a heavy price for

living near the industrial town in Madhya Pradesh. Their ground water has been polluted by over 23,500 tonnes of hazardous water dumped at two factory premises and other sites in Ratlam. 350 tonnes of toxic waste lying at the defunct Union Carbide plant in Bhopal city is only a fraction of Ratlams toxic legacy, but it has been written about much more. The Public Health Engineering Department in Ratlam has identified seven villages as affected by ground water contamination caused by the toxic waste. These villages are within a distance of 10 km from the two chemical factories, which closed over a decade ago due to management problem. A study by the Central Ground Water Board (CGWB) in 2004 reported the water in the villages was very saline and had high concentration of nitrates, chlorides, sulphates and phosphates. In some village the limit prescribed by the Bureau of Indian Standards. The study said the toxic discharge has seeped into deeper aquifers.

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