Bhopal gas tragedy toxic waste to be disposed of in 72 days

The toxic waste of the Bhopal gas tragedy will now be incinerated in 72 days with a burning rate of 270 kg per hour at a private facility in Pithampur, Indore

Bhopal: The toxic waste of the Bhopal gas tragedy will now be incinerated in 72 days with a burning rate of 270 kg per hour at a private facility in Pithampur, Indore.

The State government on Thursday submitted a status report on the ‘trial run’ in the Madhya Pradesh High Court, Jabalpur before a Bench of Chief Justice Suresh Kumar Kait and Justice Vivek Jain.

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“The government submitted the status report on the trial run and has informed the court that the trial run was completed as per court order without any problem. Now the entire toxic waste which was transported from Bhopal to Pithampur, Indore will be incinerated at the rate of 270 kg per hour in 72 days, the government has informed the court,” a well-placed official said.

The case is listed for June 30 for the next hearing. The court, the officials further said, has asked the government to dispose of the toxic waste as per guidelines of the Central Pollution Control Board, and no harm should be caused to the general public.

After 40 years, the waste was hauled from the abandoned entity of Union Carbide India Pvt Limited (owned by American Union Carbide Corporation) to Pithampur, near Indore — 230 kilometers from Bhopal in January this year. And a trial run was conducted till recently in four phases, as per court orders.

The 1984 Bhopal gas disaster claimed the lives of thousands of people and left several others injured when a poisonous gas, methyl isocyanate, leaked from the factory on the intervening night of December 2-3, 1984. The toxic waste has been lying in the factory since then.

Meanwhile, the non-government organisations working in the interest of the Bhopal gas tragedy survivors urged the court to listen to them also. “We urged the court that 300 metric tons of toxic waste will aggravate the problem three times as after burning it will be converted into 900 metric tons. The remains of the burnt toxic waste will be dumped in a landfill, and that will create more pollution,” Rachna Dhingra, a chief activist of Bhopal Group for Information and Action, said.