The Madhya Pradesh government tied itself in knots by implementing a judicial fiat on transferring toxic Union Carbide waste from Bhopal to Pithampur town in Dhar district, 240 km from the state capital, for its supposed safe disposal. The high court had threatened to slap contempt charges against the executive if its order was not implemented by January 6, the next date of hearing. On the intervening night of December 2-3, 1984, noxious methyl isocyanate gas leaked from the Union Carbide pesticide factory in Bhopal, killing over 5,000 people and leaving thousands of others in the city with severe, long-lasting health issues. If Bhopal exhaled with relief after the shifting of the waste, the industrial town of Pithampur, which houses a state-of-the-art waste treatment, storage and disposal facility (TSDF), exploded with anger, as its residents were not part of the decision-making loop.
Bipartisan political support against incineration in Pithampur as well as in neighbouring Indore, and a fiery protest by the locals prodded the government to look for some wriggle room. It put the disposal of the waste on hold and tossed the toxic ball back to the judiciary. The government is expected to seek more time for disposal, saying it wants to take the locals into confidence—an oblique admission that it failed to hold a public hearing before transporting the toxic waste to the city. Chief Minister Mohan Yadav’s earlier spin that the waste was safe as it comprises 60 percent of the soil while the rest had 7-naphthol, reactor residue, and semi-processed pesticides found no takers. Residents of the Tarpura village, adjacent to the TSDF, claim that the incineration of 10 tonnes of Union Carbide waste at the unit on a trial basis in 2015 had led to soil and groundwater contamination in the periphery.
Top-down judicial orders for problem resolution on such matters without sensitising people at the base of the pyramid, tend to blow up in the face. More so as the very mention of the Bhopal gas tragedy makes people shudder, as the methyl isocyanate leak deformed foetuses of future generations as well. A recent PIL at the National Green Tribunal sought iron-clad guarantees from the government before the waste is allowed to be disposed of. Let there be no shortcuts where people’s lives are at stake.