BHOPAL: Forty years after a late-night leak of noxious methyl isocyanate (MIC) gas at the Union Carbide India Limited’s (UCIL) pesticide plant killed over 5,500 people in its vicinity in Bhopal and cast its adverse shadow on successive generations, its toxic waste was finally shifted out of Bhopal on January 1. Twelve specially designed, sealed, leak-proof, fire-resistant and GPS tracking-enabled containers, carrying 358 metric tonnes of toxic waste were escorted by police and emergency vehicles through a 250-km Green Corridor to the industrial town of Pithampur in Dhar district of western MP, around 30 km from India’s cleanest and the state’s most populated city, Indore.
The waste will be stored, treated and incinerated at a treatment-storage-disposal facility (TSDF) in the Pithampur Industrial Area. The transportation was necessitated following a December 3 order by the Jabalpur bench of the Madhya Pradesh High Court that was hearing a petition filed way back in 2004 by Alok Pratap, a leader of the gas tragedy’s victims based in Bhopal. Pratap died in a road accident in 2015. The court gave the government four weeks to shift out the waste.
“We fail to understand that in spite of issuance of various directions from time to time by the Supreme Court as well as the MP High Court, pursuant to the waste transport-disposal plan of March 2024, till date no steps seem to have been taken to remove the toxic waste/material. They are still in a state of inertia, despite 40 years since the gas tragedy. Though the plan has been sanctioned, contract awarded, still the authorities are inertia which may lead to another tragedy to take shape before acting further,” the high court said.
It warned that the failure to comply with the order will result in the prosecution of the Principal Secretary (Bhopal Gas Tragedy Relief and Rehabilitation Department) for contempt of court.
The bench also demanded a compliance report along with a personal affidavit of the department’s principal secretary before January 6, the next date of hearing.
The final disposal in Pithampur will happen nearly a decade after successful trial incineration of 10 tonnes of the toxic waste in August 2015, reportedly in a hush-hush manner, owing to opposition by the locals.
The trial run at the Pithampur TSDF in Dhar district — the only such state-of-the-art facility in Madhya Pradesh for incinerating hazardous and chemical waste — was carried out following a 2014 order of the Supreme Court, after efforts to scientifically dispose it of at facilities in Ankleshwar (Gujarat), Nagpur (Maharashtra) and even Hamburg (Germany) failed owing to opposition by local residents and groups.
Swatantra Kumar Singh, Director of the state’s Directorate for Bhopal Gas Tragedy Relief and Rehabilitation, said the Common Hazardous Waste Treatment, Storage and Disposal Facility (CHW-TSDF) at Pithampur, employs advanced technologies for incineration, landfill management and emission control. It continuously monitors water and air quality during the waste disposal process.
Depending on the speed of the incineration — from 90 kg/hour to 180 kg/hour to 270 kg/hour — the entire process of disposal of the 358 metric tonnes may span from 3.5 months to 9 months, Singh said.
An Oversight Committee was established at the Central government level in July 2010 to manage the disposal of UCIL waste. Chaired by the Union Minister for Environment, Forest, and Climate Change, the committee includes the state government’s environment minister and the Minister for Bhopal Gas Tragedy Relief and Rehabilitation, environmental experts and representatives from Central institutions, such as the National Environmental and Engineering Research Institute (NEERI), Nagpur; National Geophysical Research Institute (NGRI), Hyderabad; Central Pollution Control Board (CPCB); Indian Institute of Chemical Technology (IICT), Hyderabad; and the Madhya Pradesh Pollution Control Board (MPPCB). It also includes senior Secretary-level officers from both the Central and state governments. It was designated as the Oversight Committee/Task Force by the High Court. The waste disposal process is being carried out under its guidance and supervision,” Singh added.
The opposition
Days before the packing of the toxic waste began on December 29, there were protests not only in Pithampur town but also in the adjoining Indore. Around 10 local groups in Pithampur have been holding protests against the transport of toxic waste. The agitation picked up pace after the waste reached Pithampur early on January 2, as the protesters marched to the town’s bus stand in support of their bandh call the next day.
Amid a massive protest in Pithampur on January 3, two of the agitators — Rajkumar Raghuvanshi and Raj Patel — sustained burn injuries and were hospitalised after a self-immolation bid by one of them saw the other one also catching fire.
“Send the toxic waste generated from the American company for disposal in America, we won’t allow it in Pithampur,” said a pamphlet in support of the bandh circulated earlier. Locals fear that the incineration will have an adverse effect on the environment, water and soil, thus impacting human and agricultural health.
While the opposition Congress is openly supporting the protests in Pithampur, even leaders of the ruling BJP are worried.
“Hazardous waste was brought to Pithampur without notice. A new plant in a remote area is needed. Sending it abroad for disposal would’ve been a better solution,” said third-time sitting local BJP MLA from Dhar seat Neena Verma.
Residents of Indore, around 30 km away from Pithampur, are equally concerned. Indore mayor and the state’s former advocate general Pushyamitra Bhargava, said, “I would request the chief secretary and principal secretary (Bhopal Gas Tragedy Relief and Rehabilitation Department) to file a review petition in the HC. We stand with the people of Pithampur on this issue, as their consent is essential before any such disposal of waste.”
Popular as Tai (elder sister) and Indore’s voice in the Lok Sabha for eight straight terms, former Lok Sabha Speaker Sumitra Mahajan too had words of caution. “Even the smallest mention of Union Carbide arouses fear and brings before us the ghastly developments of 1984 Bhopal Gas Tragedy, which not just killed thousands and affected those present in Bhopal at that time, but also foetuses and subsequent generations. The toxic waste from the Union Carbide factory must be disposed of. However, it should be done after detailed discussions with scientists, experts (particularly from Indore) and local residents since it is a question of people’s health. This is not a political issue, but an issue concerning our people. I’m confident the government understands it,” the octogenarian leader said after meeting state Congress chief Jitu Patwari at her house in Indore. Patwari met her on January 2, seeking support to halt the toxic waste disposal in Pithampur.
“The disposal of this waste could increase the risk of cancer among people of Pithampur and Indore, as per experts. We don’t want it to become a Congress vs BJP issue. Around a decade back, samples of the toxic waste from Bhopal were incinerated at the same TSDF on a trial basis. It resulted in a steep drop in agricultural yield from five quintals to just one quintal within a 2-4 km radius from the TSDF. The tube well water is no longer potable. We need to be scientifically assured that the possible seepage of water from the TSDF into the Gambhir river and ultimately to the Yashwant Sagar Dam (which takes care of around 40% of Indore’s drinking water needs) will not happen in the coming years. Rushing the waste-burning process could result in long-term harm to Yashwant Sagar, a crucial water source for Indore,” Patwari argued.
Former students of the state government’s largest medical college, MGM Medical College in Indore, filed a PIL in MP High Court’s Indore Bench on December 30, seeking an immediate halt to the disposal of waste in Pithampur. “The statements of locals around the TSDF suggest they’ve been contracting skin infections after consuming water from borewells after the trial incineration around a decade back. No medical survey of the population has been conducted to study the repercussions of the 2015 exercise; no camps of doctors are in place to assess and prevent human health problems due to the planned incineration. One of my petitioners, who is a cancer specialist, is of the firm view that the disposal of the toxic waste in Pithampur may cause cancers in the coming years. By arbitrarily going ahead with waste disposal, the state government is curtailing the right to health and the right to live and breathe in fresh and pollution free air,” said Abhinav Dhanodkar, the counsel for the petitioners.
More than a decade ago, Jayant Malaiya, the then minister of environment and urban administration in the Shivraj Singh Chouhan-led BJP regime, had reportedly said that toxic waste could not be dumped in Pithampur, as it was close to the catchment area of the Yashwant Sagar Lake, which supplies substantive drinking water to Indore.
Faced with growing opposition, the CM assigned seasoned troubleshooter and senior-most minister of his government, Kailash Vijayvargiya, with the task of building consensus on the matter. Vijayvargiya has already held talks with local representatives, including MPs and MLAs over the issue in Indore and Dhar districts.
State govt’s stand
While allaying safety concerns of people, particularly those in Pithampur and Indore, Chief Minister Mohan Yadav said on January 2, “the disposal of waste will be carried out carefully while addressing public concerns. After 40 years of the accident, the harmful effects of the waste kept in Bhopal have come to an end. More than 60% of the transported waste is local soil, while the rest comprises waste of 7-naphthol, reactor residues and semi-processed pesticides. The 7-naphthol residue present in it is basically a co-product of the process of making methyl isocyanate and pesticides. Experts believe that it loses its toxicity after 25 years.”
In March 2013, 10 tonnes of Union Carbide-like waste from Hindustan Insecticides Limited, Kochi, Kerala was transported and a trial run was conducted at TSDF in Pithampur under the supervision of the Central Pollution Control Board. The report of the successful trial run was presented to the Supreme Court. Based on its findings, the court directed in April 2014 that another trial run of 10 tonnes of UCIL waste be conducted at TSDF Pithampur with full videography of the process. Its outcome suggested that the waste disposal did not harm the environment. The court then instructed the full disposal of all UCIL waste.
Parallelly, the MP chief secretary conducted a separate investigation on the impact of the incineration on human health in the surrounding villages, effect on crop productivity and the quality of regional water sources. Nothing negative was found as a result of UCIL waste disposal.
“Our government is fully sensitive towards waste disposal. It will be done under the continuous monitoring of the Central Pollution Control Board, Madhya Pradesh State Pollution Control Board as well as all the concerned teams,” the CM assured.
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