Cobalt-60 Radiation and Maya Puri

Maya Puri, a scrap market is situated in western part of Delhi which is the capital of India. Maya Puri has now become popular in India and abroad too as the radiation leaked from scrap and caused some people seriously ill. Today, I got a telephone call of my friend. He said, ‘I was discussing with you, long back, about radioactive scrap. How radioactive scrap comes to India and is reused for manufacturing cooking utensils. When these utensils are used they will definitely harm the body. These radioactive utensils may cause some cancer like dreaded diseases.’ I couldn’t recall the discussion. But it is certain that radioactive substance cause ill effects on human beings and these bad effects transfer into their offspring. If these scrap along with radioactive substance, deliberately or unknowingly, come to Indian scrap market, one day, they will cause some serious accident in India. The question arises why do other countries sell their scrap to India, why does India buy it? This is an eternal truth in marketing that the seller is always more intelligent than the buyer. The formula also applies here, so Indian Govt. should be careful if he wants to buy the scrap from abroad and make some guidelines for the scrap dealers.

The accident of Maya Puri radiation is a big dent on the prestige of India. Six persons got affected from Cobalt -60 radiation in Maya Puri area. Five are admitted in All India Institute of Medical Sciences in Delhi and one, Deepak, is admitted at Apollo Hospital in Delhi. He is seriously ill and is kept in critical care unit of the hospital. Dr. D.K.Sharma, in charge of AIIMS said, ‘These patients are being treated under the guidance of Dr. A.B.Dey of medicine department. All the tests of these patients have been done and their reports have been received. Their bone-marrow is affected as we know Cobalt-60 radiation affects the bone-marrow first.’

The traders of Maya Puri market have kept the market closed under protest. They demanded that the affected persons should be treated by a good doctor and expenses of the hospital should be borne by the Govt. In this regard, they also wanted to meet the Chief Minister of Delhi. A question arises, why the traders are protesting on this issue. Are they innocent or want to become politicians? Why these traders cause so much hue and cry, when these patients are already getting treatment in one of the best hospitals of the state. The Govt. should take some strict action against those who are illegally involved in this trade.

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