MP High Court allows 'trial run' of Union Carbide waste disposal at Pithampur
BHOPAL: The trial run of the disposal of four-decades-old chemical waste from the defunct Union Carbide factory will start at the treatment-storage-disposal facility (TSDF) in Pithampur industrial town of western Madhya Pradesh’s Dhar district from February 27.
The Madhya Pradesh High Court’s division bench headed by Chief Justice Suresh Kumar Kait and comprising Justice Vivek Jain, allowed the state government on Tuesday, to conduct the trial run in three phases.
“The state government, in a compliance affidavit submitted before the court, detailed about the comprehensive public awareness campaign carried out by the authorities (in Pithampur and neighbouring Indore) in the six weeks’ time granted by the HC to dispel the myths and false information spread about the planned incineration of the waste in Pithampur,” Advocate General Prashant Singh told journalists in Jabalpur.
"We’ve submitted before the HC that we're ready for the three-phase trial run of disposal of the waste in Pithampur," Prashant Singh said.
A total of 30 metric tons of waste will be incinerated in three phases, with each phase seeing disposal of 10 metric tons each.
In the first phase, the waste will be disposed of at 135 kg per hour feed rate, followed by 180 kg per hour feed rate in the second phase and the final phase will see disposal of waste at feed rate of 270 kg per hour, the advocate general informed.
The second phase of the trial run will be conducted from March 4, followed by the third phase, Singh said.
"Once all three phases of the trial runs are complete, the results of the entire three-phase trial run will be placed before the Central Pollution Control Board (CPCB). It will help us in deciding the ideal feed rate for disposing the remaining waste. A compliance report of entire phases of trial run and ideal feed rate for disposing the entire waste, will subsequently be submitted before the High Court on March 27,” Singh maintained.
The HC clearance comes just a day after the Supreme Court had issued notice to the Centre, State government and its pollution control board on a petition filed by Indore-resident Chinmay Mishra, against the MP High Court’s order.
The respondents (central and state governments) have on Monday been given a week’s time by the apex court to file their reply.
Importantly, around 358 metric tons of hazardous waste from the defunct Union Carbide plant in Bhopal, was transported in safe containers on 12 fully protected trucks to the industrial town of Pithampur (225 km from Bhopal) early on January 2, 2025. The transportation of the hazardous waste from the killer factory of Bhopal to Pithampur TSDF was carried out in pursuance of the MP High Court’s December 3, 2024 order.
However, massive protests had erupted in Pithampur town of Dhar district, while voices of protest also started rising in adjoining Indore city, over apprehensions about the incineration of the waste in Pithampur being detrimental to the environmental and human health of Pithampur and adjoining areas.
Subsequently, on January 6, 2025 while accepting the state government’s plea, the MP High Court had given six weeks to the authorities to run a dedicated and comprehensive public awareness campaign to allay the fears and dispel the myths and comply with the December 3, 2024 order.
On February 13, the process of unloading the 12 containers bearing the 358 metric tons waste was carried out in presence of all concerned stakeholders, including local public representatives at the TSDF in Pithampur.
The trial run of 30 metric tons waste disposal will be the second such trial run in ten years. Earlier, acting on a 2014 order of the Supreme Court, trial run of disposing 10 metric tons of the waste from the 1984 Bhopal Gas Tragedy hit plant – was carried out under the Central Pollution Control Board (CPCB) supervision (adhering to all prescribed safety parameters) at the TSDF in Pithampur in August 2015.
Locals in Pithampur are fiercely opposed to the planned disposal, near their town.
Methyl isocyanate, a highly toxic gas, leaked from Union Carbide's pesticide factory in Bhopal on the intervening night of December 2-3, 1984, killing as many as 5,479 people within a few days and leaving thousands with serious health problems and long-term disabilities.
Sumit Raghuvanshi, a local resident who has moved the high court against the planned disposal of the waste in Pithampur, said he and others were steadfast on their stand.
"We have submitted a plea to the high court, stating that the Union Carbide waste should not be disposed of in Pithampur because the town is already very polluted," he said.
The Air Quality Index in the area was 350 and the groundwater was not drinkable, Raghuvanshi claimed.
"I hope the high court will not allow the disposal of waste in Pithampur. The HC heard our plea today. Possibly, the court will take a decision on our plea at the next hearing," he said.
While expressing his faith in the court, Raghuvanshi said residents of Pithampur have also sent one lakh postcards to the President and Chief Justice of India, opposing the disposal.