BHOPAL: With the Supreme Court on Thursday refusing to interfere with the direction of the Madhya Pradesh High Court waste disposal from the Bhopal Gas Tragedy site, the process of conducting a three-phase trial run of the defunct Union Carbide plant’s waste in Pithampur of western MP has begun.
Hours after the apex court order on a petition by Indore-based Gandhian activist Chinmay Mishra, challenging the MP High Court directive, the process of disposing of the waste locked in 12 containers started at the treatment-disposal-storage-facility (TSDF) in Pithampur, 250-km from Bhopal.
According to official sources, five of 12 containers containing five different kinds of waste were first unlocked. Samples from the selected containers were mixed together and filled into bags. The incinerator will be heated optimally for around 12 hours, starting late Thursday night.
“So, the actual process of incinerating the waste of the five containers will not begin before Friday noon,” Indore divisional commissioner Dipak Singh told this newspaper.
“The entire exercise is being carried out under the watchful eyes of experts from multiple agencies, including the central pollution control board (CPCB), state pollution control board and National Environmental Engineering Research Institute (NEERI). They will also supervise the incineration,” a government official added.
The trial run of disposing of 30 of the 358 metric tons of Union Carbide waste at different feed rates from February 27 is being carried out per February 18, 2025, MP High Court order.
In the first phase, the waste will be disposed of at a 135 kg per hour feed rate, followed by a 180 kg and 270 kg per hour feed rates, respectively. The CPCB will receive the results of the trial run to help decide the ideal feed rate for disposing of the remaining waste. A compliance report will be submitted to the High Court on March 27.
Meanwhile, over 500 police personnel have been deployed in Pithampur. Holding protests without official permission will invite penal action, as prohibitory orders have been imposed. Earlier on Thursday morning, while refusing to interfere with the direction of the MP High Court, the SC granted liberty to the parties to raise their grievances before the High Court.
Mishra told TNIE over the phone from Indore, “I’ll have to study the SC’s judgment before deciding on a future course of action. I am hopeful that the High Court will take suo moto cognizance of my concerns, including the local municipal body in Pithampur and gram panchayats near the TSDF being averse to the incineration there.”