Urban News

The Atomic Energy Regulatory Board (AERB) has asked the Municipal Corporation of Delhi to cement the decrepit road in the Mayapuri industrial area, where a radioactive substance was found in April. The subsequent radiation leak had claimed one life and injured five.

The AERB recently wrote a letter to Delhi Mayor P R Sawhney asking him to ensure that the MCD “concretises the above road at the earliest.”

When the AERB officials and doctors visited Mayapuri in May to “clean up” the area, it was found that the radiation had also affected the soil. To ensure further contamination, the MCD will have to remove one foot of soil. During the monsoon the substances can spread, the letter read.

During the clean-up operation, the AERB officials had removed the topsoil from the area, but had instructed the civic agencies to remove another layer of soil and concretise the road.

“Yet, neither the municipality nor the Delhi government has paid heed. Officials have promised to cement the road, but nothing is happening,” said Hemraj Gupta, president, Mayapuri Scrap Market Association. Gupta said contacted the MCD earlier last on the issue.

The Corporation, meanwhile, said it has already begun work on concretisation of roads in many areas of the west zone and will begin work at Mayapuri soon. The Mayor remained unavailable for comment.

The source of the radiation leak was a radioactive gamma cell containing Cobalt-60, auctioned as scrap by the Delhi University’s chemistry department in March this year.