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The Times of India KOLKATA, 3 OCTOBER 2001 -- Environment activist and Supreme Court lawyer M.C. Mehta called for a blanket ban on the use of asbestos in West Bengal. Asbestos is believed to be carcinogenic and its use in the state is alarmingly high. Mehta was speaking at a press conference organised by Kalyaneshwari, an NGO, for betterment of human living condition, here on Saturday. According to a study conducted by the NGO, there have been deaths in Asansol and Uttarpara due to asbestos. Though local administration cited jaundice as the cause of death, our probe revealed there was contamination in water after asbestos pipes broke, said Sudam Mitra of Kalyaneswari said. Asbestos fibre is one of the key factors causing cancer. Mehta said, It is high time the government of India should ban this deadly carcinogenic substance. It is more so justifiable as all asbestos based products have technically superior and commercially comparable substitutes. Mehta said that asbestos is widely used in rural areas in drinking water pipes. But, this is not the case in Kolkata or Salt Lake. Why is this dichotomy? he asked. Mitra said, State public health engineering department (PHED) has been buying asbestos pipes worth crores which have been branded as highly unusable by the National Test House. Kalyaneswari demanded a probe into the purchase of asbestos pipes by PHED. Though there is no project, the PHED has purchased pipes ten times greater than the requirement, the NGO said. Despite several restrictions imposed by world bodies as well as those within the country, civic bodies and PHED in West Bengal are supplying potable water through asbestos cement pressure pipes at random in the rural areas, they said. One of the principal reasons leading to contamination of treated water is the use of materials of an inferior quality for water pipes in the rural areas. Mehta said Tripura, Bihar and Delhi have already stopped using asbestos. He advocated an immediate cessation of Ganga Action Plan (GAP) for its failure to yield result. FAIR USE NOTICE. This document contains copyrighted material whose use has not been specifically authorized by the copyright owner. The Basel Action Network is making this article available in our efforts to advance understanding of ecological sustainability and environmental justice issues. We believe that this constitutes a `fair use' of the copyrighted material as provided for in section 107 of the US Copyright Law. If you wish to use this copyrighted material for purposes of your own that go beyond `fair use', you must obtain permission from the copyright owner. More News |