It is inconceivable that a responsible organization in the country called Atomic Energy Regulatory Board (AERB) has come under severe criticism by the Comptroller and Auditor General of India. Actually it was the Public Accounts Committee of the Parliament, which, while scrutinizing the report of the CAG, pointed out that the AERB had committed serious breach of procedure in allowing 52,173 X-Ray machines in the country to go without registration with it. 91 per cent of the machines are without registration with the Nuclear Regulatory. According to an undisclosed source in the AERB, scrutinizing all the 52 thousand plus X-Ray machines is a formidable task. But that excuse is not tenable. There are various dimensions of the issue.
For example, it will be recalled that the Supreme Court had ordered that the Government should setup Directorate of Radiation Safety in all States and Union Territories. But except two States, the order remains not implemented by the rest of the States including J&K. How come that the State Governments have slept over the order for last 24 years and the entire population of the country is exposed to the danger of radiation in one or the other form. It is regrettable to note that out of 135 gamma chamber units 70 are functioning without valid authorization. This is playing with the health of the people in the country. The Supreme Court had in its order slammed the Atomic Energy Regulatory Board for its failure to formulate nuclear radiation safety policy for the entire country.
India is a nuclear country. We claim that we have foolproof safety measures against nuclear leak. Nobody denies that Indian scientists are capable enough to provide a nuclear safety shield against radiation. Our building of nuclear energy resource is of indigenous make and as such we should have no difficulty in helping the 52,000 and plus X-Ray machines get registered with the Atomic Energy Regulatory Board. A serious lapse has happened and the remedy is that the Government should forthwith take steps to implement the order of the Supreme Court by virtue of which Directorate of Radiation Safety will be created. The Directorates will be able to provide skilled manpower, something which the Board is lacking at present.
Our Government and or policy planners are well aware of the dangers of radiation and radioactive particles to human, animal and plant life. We have a large segment of illiterate people in our society. They have no idea of what nuclear radiation is. Even many educated people, too, are not well informed about it. Therefore it was the duty of the Government to bring about necessary knowledge of radian to the public who, in turn, would have made strong plea for the thousands of X-Ray machines getting registered with the AERB. This is a serious lapse on the part of the Government and the AERB; it is inexcusable. The excuse that it is a difficult and tough job will not be accepted especially when there is the directive from the Supreme Court that Directorate of Radiation Safety should be created. It is the duty of the Government. If the reason for slackness is deficiency of skilled manpower, the Government should have taken steps well in time to provide skilled cadres after making them go through training courses at various institutes.
We would suggest that the Government take a serious view of the matter and calls a meeting of all stakeholders to discuss how a large number of unregistered units can be got registered with the AERB. It should also devise a policy of providing training facilities to prospective candidates and thus overcome the shortage of skilled manpower.
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