Delhi University rejects claims of uranium being 'dumped' in the campus

Delhi University and Atomic Energy Regulatory Board today rejected claims that 20 kg of uranium was "dumped" inside the campus a few years back and ruled out fears about safety of radioactive materials in its laboratories.

In a hurriedly convened press conference, its vice chancellor Deepak Pental termed it as wrong that 20 kg of uranium was buried in the campus as claimed by a terminated professor.

"This is wrong. If 20 kg of uranium was dumped somewhere in the campus, it would not have been possible for us to sit here," he told reporters.

Pental alleged that Prof Ramesh Chandra, who made these allegations, "could have done this to settle personal score as he has been terminated from the service for financial irregularities."

AERB scientist Dr Raju Kumar said that there was no evidence about radioactive material being dumped inside the campus.

He, however, said "there were certain radioactive materials which did not have proper labelling and they have been taken care of."

A four-member team from the AERB launched a probe into lapses by the university in auctioning of radioactive material, which led to the death of a man in the city.

The team is also looking for radioactive pencils which reportedly went missing.

The vice chancellor did not prefer to comment about the demand of the Delhi University Teachers' Association that he should resign.

Pental said a team of AERB is currently investigating the laboratories and has not found any unsafe source of radioactive material. 

"Nothing untoward has been noticed by them. I have requested them to inspect all laboratories of all science departments to ascertain whether there is any unsafe material," he said.

To a question, he said that he had given approval for auctioning of the radioactive material by the chemistry department but maintained that he should not be blamed for it.

The vice chancellor said he approved it as part of official procedure but maintained that the responsibility of ensuring that only safe materials are auctioned lies with the Chemistry department.

Pental said the department has also auctioned 50 cylinders in last three years but they were not hazardous as claimed by certain reports. 

The university has set up a three-member panel to look into the circumstances under which the materials were auctioned. The committee will submit its report within a months' time.

To an allegation that Dr Dwarka Nath, who is a member of the committee, is close to Prof V S Parmar of Chemistry department and that the investigation may not be fair, he answered in the negative.

"They are not corrupt and Prof Dwarka Nath has not given his consent on becoming member of the panel yet. He may disagree to become a member of the panel also," he said.