Bhopal: Commencement of Trial for Union Carbide Waste Disposal

Bhopal, Feb 28 (NationPress) Following the Supreme Court's decision to refrain from intervening in the trial phase for incinerating hazardous waste relocated from the abandoned Union Carbide site in Bhopal to a private plant in Pithampur (near Indore), the Madhya Pradesh government is commencing the operation on Friday.

After 56 days of meticulous preparation, five containers containing toxic waste from Union Carbide were opened on Thursday at the Pithampur facility.

Significant police presence has been established in the vicinity to manage potential unrest, as residents from Pithampur, Tarpura village, and Indore have voiced their opposition to the disposal activities.

Multiple public interest litigations have already been submitted to the Madhya Pradesh High Court's principal bench. This transfer is the result of a High Court mandate - dated January 2 - as well as a previous order from December 2024 that led to the transportation of 337 tonnes of toxic materials from Bhopal to the disposal site in Pithampur, located in the Dhar district.

According to a government representative, “The trial run is scheduled to begin on Friday and will unfold in several phases, with each batch expected to take two to four days for disposal.”

Nevertheless, challenges remain. Activists contend that the state government provided misleading details to obtain approval and circumvented mandatory permissions from local authorities.

Rachna Dhingra, an activist from the Bhopal Group of Action and Information (an NGO supporting survivors of the Bhopal gas tragedy), raised concerns.

She referenced documents showing that in December 2024, the Madhya Pradesh Pollution Control Board (MPPCB) issued a show-cause notice to the Pithampur site for numerous violations of the Water Protection Act, 1974.

Furthermore, Dhingra cautioned about substantial environmental hazards. Diesel usage during the incineration process could worsen pollution, and the ash generated could contain toxic heavy metals. Over 900 tonnes of waste, potentially hazardous, are anticipated to be stored in a landfill covered with polyethylene sheets.

Experts express concerns that this may lead to groundwater contamination.

Despite this, the state government insists that the collection, transportation, and disposal of waste have complied with regulatory standards. They have allocated Rs 126 crore to the private facility for managing the waste. Historical precedents raise alarms. In 2008, 10 tonnes of waste from Bhopal were disposed of in Pithampur, causing a local river to turn black. Although subsequent tests alleviated concerns about water contamination, the incident triggered significant public backlash.

A 2015 trial to incinerate 10 tonnes of waste prompted further investigations, leading to the High Court's current directives.

Under the Court's orders, the 337 tonnes of waste arrived in Pithampur on January 2, with trial operations expected to conclude by late March. The outcomes will influence the Court's decision regarding full-scale disposal.

This highly contentious matter involves a delicate balance of environmental, health, and administrative factors, leaving much at stake for all parties involved.

The toxic waste was initially intended as raw material for pesticide production at Union Carbide India Pvt Ltd in the 1980s. A catastrophic leak of methyl isocyanate from the plant resulted in numerous fatalities and thousands of injuries on December 2, 1984, marking it as the world's most devastating industrial disaster.