Forty years after the Bhopal gas tragedy, 377 tons of hazardous waste have been removed from the abandoned Union Carbide factory for proper disposal amid protests.
Toxic waste from Bhopal to the Pithampur industrial area was transported in 12 sealed containers. Local activists claim 10 tons of Union Carbide waste was incinerated in 2015, polluting soil and water sources. Singh denied this, stating the decision was made after the 2015 test results.
He also added
“There would be no reason to worry”.
A massive protest march was held on Sunday to protest the dumping of Union Carbide waste in Pithampur. This is home to about 1.75 lakh people.
Swatantra Kumar Singh, director of the Bhopal Gas Tragedy Relief and Rehabilitation Department, stated
“The 12 container trucks carrying the waste set off on a non-stop journey around 9 pm. A green corridor was created for the nearly-seven journey of the vehicles to the Pithampur industrial area in Dhar district,”.
He claimed that since Sunday, about 100 people have been working in 30-minute shifts to pack and load the rubbish into trucks.
Singh also added
“They underwent health check-ups and were given rest every 30 minutes,”.
At least 5,479 individuals died and hundreds more suffered from serious. Lifelong health issues as a result of the highly deadly methyl isocyanate (MIC) gas leak that occurred at the Union Carbide pesticide factory on the night of December 2-3, 1984.
This catastrophe is thought to be among the worst industrial mishaps in history. The Madhya Pradesh High Court chastised officials on December 3 for not clearing the Union Carbide site in Bhopal in violation of Supreme Court orders.
Given that, even forty years after the gas disaster, authorities were still in a bind, the HC set a four-week deadline to move the garbage. If the administration disregarded its order, the high court bench had threatened to hold it in contempt.
Singh said on Wednesday morning
“If everything is found to be fine, the waste will be incinerated within three months. Otherwise, it might take up to nine months,”.
According to him, some of the debris will first be burned at the Pithampur disposal plant, and the ash that is left over will be analyzed to determine whether any hazardous materials are still present. He stated that in order to prevent pollution of the surrounding air, the smoke from the incinerator will go through unique four-layer filters.
The ash will be covered with a two-layer membrane and buried to prevent any interaction with soil or water after it has been verified that no evidence of harmful elements remains.
The procedure would be carried out by a group of specialists overseen by representatives of the State and Central Pollution Control Boards.
