The authorities in India have appointed a German firm to help dispose of the toxic waste from a chemical plant in Bhopal, which caused the tragic gas leak disaster, by taking the waste to Germany.

The Union Carbide plant, which was the site of a chemical gas leak killed thousands in 1984, dumped 350 metric tons of chemical waste in pits. Activists argue that the chemical waste is leaking toxins into the ground water.

The government of the Indian state of Madhya Pradesh is working on the relief work. Praveer Krishna, the head of the relief efforts at the MP government, said that the authorities were working on a plan to send the waste to Germany to be disposed by the Germany’s government-run Society for International Cooperation.

Activists say that the Indian government will have to pay 9 million euros for disposing the waster and the government is likely to claim that from Dow Chemical, which bought Union Carbide in 2001.

A spokesman for Germany’s Society for International Cooperation (GIZ) said that the organization is holding discussions with the Indian officials over the disposal of 350 tonnes of toxic waste from the 1984 Bhopal gas disaster. The spokesman also said that the Indian officials had approached Germany with the request for the disposal of the waste material.