Trucks loaded with tonnes of Union Carbide’s toxic waste from the 1984 Bhopal gas tragedy are parked in Pithampur industrial town of Madhya Pradesh’s Dhar district. File
| Photo Credit: The Hindu
The Madhya Pradesh High Court on Tuesday allowed the State government to conduct three trial runs by disposing of 10 tonnes each of the Union Carbide’s 40-year-old toxic waste at an incineration facility in Dhar district’s Pithampur, where a total of 358 tonnes of waste has been lying for more than one and a half months.
A Division Bench of Chief Justice Suresh Kumar Kait and Justice Vivek Jain directed the Madhya Pradesh government and other authorities to undertake the trial runs on February 27, March 4 and March 10 at different burning rates, increasing it after each successful run, following all necessary safety protocols.
The court asked the State authorities to submit a compliance report of the three runs during the next hearing on March 27.
The court’s directions come after it had granted six weeks’ time to the State government on January 6 to build consensus among the local public of Pithampur and nearby areas which has been opposing the disposal of the toxic chemical waste in their neighbourhood. The court had also barred the media to publish any “fake news” in the matter.
Mass protests in Pithampur
Loaded in 12 container-trucks from the defunct Union Carbide India Ltd (UCIL) unit in Bhopal, the waste arrived in Pithampur on the morning of January 2. The move, however, led to mass protests in the industrial town and nearby areas, with two persons attempting self-immolation. A group of local protesters pelted stones at the premises of Pithampur Industrial Waste Management Private Limited, owned by the Ramky Group, the facility designated to incinerate the waste.
The protests prompted the government to seek time from the court to create awareness among people. During the six weeks, various authorities, including the local administration, ran multiple outreach programmes and door-to-door campaigns.
A compliance report of the government’s outreach initiatives was also submitted in the court on Tuesday.
“The action plan for six weeks’ timeline has been prepared by the Department of Bhopal Gas Relief Tragedy and Rehabilitation and the same has been provided to the stakeholders concerned to make aware of the actual facts to the public by the environmental experts, medical experts and the experts of other fields working in the universities and educational institutions to make proper public communication with the scientific documents regarding the disposal of the UCIL waste,” the order read.
“Accordingly, keeping in view the averments made in the present status report/affidavit, we hereby direct the respondents to undertake first trial run of 10 tonnes by taking all protocols into consideration on February 27 and thereafter see the result of the same. If there is no adverse effect, the second trial run will take place on March 4 followed by the third trial run on March 10 and thereafter based on results of same, after the due tests they will continue to dispose of the remaining waste and file the status report,” the court order read.
The authorities plan to incinerate the first batch of waste at the feed (burning) rate 135 kilograms per hour, analyse its results and if they are satisfactory, increase the feed rate to 180 kg/hr and 270 kg/hr for the next two trial batches, respectively.
Review by CPCB
Before being submitted to the court, the results of the trial runs will be reviewed by the Central Pollution Control Board (CPCB) which will recommend a fixed feed rate for the incineration of the remaining waste.
The court also noted that 11 local representatives have requested the Dhar Collector for trial runs and share their results with the public.
On February 17, the Supreme Court also accepted a plea challenging the waste disposal at Pithampur and issued notices to the Union and State governments, and the Madhya Pradesh Pollution Control Board. The Supreme Court has listed the matter for next week.
The toxic waste had been lying at the UCIL site in the State capital for more than 40 years, since the December 1984’s Bhopal gas tragedy when toxic methyl isocyanate (MIC) gas leaked from its pesticide manufacturing unit, killing thousands immediately and many more in the aftermath.
According to the Union Government’s 2022 estimates, a total of 5,479 people lost their lives due to the tragedy. Various government estimates show that while thousands suffered physical disabilities in the aftermath of the accident, it has also had health implications on more than five lakh people over the decades.
The locals in Pithampur, Indore and nearby places, including several doctors, have long opposed the government’s plans, alleging that the smoke and residue from the incineration could pollute their environment and contaminate their water bodies.
Earlier on February 13, the containers were also unloaded from the trucks in the presence of authorities and local representatives but the containers were kept locked.
Published – February 18, 2025 01:10 pm IST