In Bhopal, 377 tonnes of hazardous waste is set to be removed from the now dysfunctional Union Carbide factory. The work to remove this toxic waste got underway ahead of its planned disposal near Indore. The development comes weeks after the Madhya Pradesh High Court slammed the authorities for not taking action despite repeated directions to clear the site in the state’s capital.
Earlier, on Sunday morning, half-a-dozen GPS-enabled trucks with specially reinforced containers reached the factory as part of the waste disposal process. Several workers wearing special PPE kits and officials of the Bhopal Municipal Corporation, environmental agencies, doctors and incineration experts were seen working at the site.
Bhopal gas tragedy
The highly toxic gas methyl isocyanate leaked from the Union Carbide pesticides factory on the intervening night of December 2 and 3 in 1984, killing 5,479 persons and leaving more than five lakh others with health problems and long-term disabilities.
Police were also deployed around the factory and the toxic waste will be moved to an incineration site in Pithampur near Indore, around 250 km from Bhopal, sources said.
Officials said initially some part of the waste will be burnt at the disposal unit of Pithampur and the residue (ash) will be scientifically examined to find out whether any harmful element is left in it.
Authorities in ‘state of inertia’: MP High Court
The MP High Court on December 3 set a four-week deadline to shift the toxic waste from the factory, observing that even 40 years after the gas disaster, the authorities were in a “state of inertia” that may cause “another tragedy”.
Describing it as a “sorry state of affairs”, the HC warned the government of contempt proceedings if its directive was not followed.
“The waste of Bhopal gas tragedy is a stigma which is going to disappear after 40 years. We will dispose it by sending it safely to Pithampur,” Swatantra Kumar Singh, director of the state's Gas Relief and Rehabilitation Department said.
He said a “green corridor” of about 250 km will be created by managing traffic to transport the waste from Bhopal to Pithampur in the shortest possible time. Singh refused to give a specific date for the transportation of the waste and its subsequent disposal at Pithampur, but sources said in view of the HC direction, the process can start soon and the waste might reach its destination by January 3.
(With PTI inputs)
