BHOPAL: Bhopal Group for Information & Action (BGIA), a member of the monitoring committee appointed by the Supreme Court, has claimed dumped toxic waste in the abandoned Union Carbide plant has now seeped into 20 more colonies, affecting soil and water quality. The BGIA says the number of affected colonies has gone up to 42 from 22.The group is fighting for clean-up of now defunct plant spread over 67 acres of land and demanding clean water to contaminated areas. In 2004, 14 such localities were identified. In 2012, the number went up to 22. In its meeting in February, the apex court-appointed committee decided to send underground water samples from the 20 localities to the Indian Institute of Toxicology Research (IITR), Lucknow, to know the extent of contamination.On March 8, a division bench of Supreme Court judges Justice Ranjan Gogoi and Justice R Banumati asked the Bhopal Municipal Corporation (BMC) to arrange piped water supply to five of the 20 more affected localities. With this, the number of colonies as recognised contamination-hit by the SC is now 27.In previous hearing on November 22 last year, BGIA counsel Karuna Nundy had told the court that her client organisation had identified 20 more localities affected by toxic underground water and soil. The court had then asked the project manager of Jawaharlal Nehru National Urban Renewal Mission (water distrubition) to collect samples from 20 new localities, identified as contaminated by the BGIA and carry out sample tests in a government-recognised laboratory. The court also said the lab should approved by the monitoring committee and submit its report to the committee.In its order, the division bench of Justice Ranjan Gogoi and Justice R Banumati wrote “ We have also taken on record the statement made on behalf of the applicant – Bhopal Group for Information & Action (BGIA) that in addition to 22 communities, which are stated to be receiving treated water there are further 20 plus communities identified by the applicant to whom also treated water is required to be supplied.”“The respondent authorities will also take out samples of the ground water presence of the monitoring committee or its authorized representative(s) from the 20 plus additional communities identified by the applicant - Bhopal Group for Information & Action,” it added.When contacted for comments, BGIA co-convener Rachna Dhingra, said, “Contamination continues to spread to new areas because the government has not been interested in doing remediation job and thus stop the spread of contamination. They always focus on 350 metric tonne of packaged waste lying on factory premises in a shelter and is not harmful.”