BHOPAL: Anger against the planned incineration of 358 metric tonnes of toxic waste (from Bhopal’s defunct Union Carbide Factory) continues to rise in the industrial Pithampur town of Dhar district of Madhya Pradesh.
Just a day after 12 specially designed containers brought the toxic waste (lying at the Bhopal factory for 40 years after the 1984 killer Gas Tragedy) for incineration at the treatment-storage-disposal facility in Pithampur on MP High Court’s directions, the western MP town saw massive protest as part of the Pithampur Bandh call given various groups on Friday.
A leaderless mob of people, including youths, women and children protested on both the main roads passing through the town. Having the support of local leaders of both the leading political parties - ruling BJP and the opposition Congress - the protest became fiery, when two protestors identified as Raj Patel and Rajkumar Raghuvanshi, sustained burn injuries after attempting self-immolation by pouring petrol on themselves.
While the live visuals of the incident amid a mob of protestors suggested that one of them set himself afire and the other one too was caught in it, a senior police official told this newspaper that a probe is underway to figure out the possibility of someone other than two, having actually lit up the flames.
The duo has been admitted with 10-15% burns at the burn unit of the Choithram Hospital in neighbouring Indore, where the Dhar district’s guardian minister Kailash Vijayvargiya met with the kin of the duo.
According to police sources, one of the two men is accused in multiple criminal cases, which has seen gun license being denied to him.
The Pithampur town which houses around 1.75 lakh population, most of them migrant labourers (who’ve been working in the factories of Pithampur Industrial Area) for long, saw the whole-hearted participation of a large population, including local politicians and caste and community groups, like the Brahmin, Kshatriya and migrants from Purvanchal (east UP and Bihar).
Roads were jammed by protestors at multiple crossings, as the leaderless mob moved from one crossing to another, protesting all across the town.
“A group of protestors also tried to move towards the TSDF where the incineration is planned, but the police had already put barricades to stop them far before the waste treatment plant. At a few places, the police had to use force, including cane-charge and water cannons to disperse the mob,” a senior state police officer camping in Pithampur told TNIE.
Meanwhile, the state’s CM Dr Mohan Yadav, said in Bhopal, “The waste has only been dumped at the treatment plant, no instructions have been issued to start its incineration. Also, it’s in pursuance of the Supreme Court and MP High Court’s order that it has been decided to scientifically dispose of the waste lying for 40 years. It’s after clearance from multiple committees of experts that the process of disposal will be undertaken under the supervision of courts. Past trial runs have shown that it will not have adverse effects on anyone, so I urge people not to be misled by those creating confusion with false information. I want to tell those political parties (Congress) not to spread false information.”
In Pithampur, the Dhar district collector Priyank Mishra and police superintendent Manoj Singh made it clear that the process of incineration planned at the TSDF will be carried out with full transparency and only after taking local residents into confidence and taking care of all their concerns. “We appeal to the people not to take law in their hands, else we’ll be forced to act as per law against the wrong doers,” the two top officials of Dhar district said.
