Toxic Waste from Bhopal Gas Tragedy Reaches Pithampur Incineration Facility
Bhopal: A dozen GPS-enabled container trucks carrying 337 tons of toxic waste, left over from the Bhopal gas tragedy of 1984, reached Pithampur incineration facility in Dhar district in Madhya Pradesh at around 4.30 am on Thursday, ending the four-decade-long debate over its disposal.
The convoy of trucks, carrying the hazardous waste from the abandoned Union Carbide plant here, reached the premises of the industrial waste management private limited at Pithapuram early on Thursday morning amid protests by the local people, who included women and children, over its disposal at the facility.
The entire Pithapuram area was barricaded from all sides with heavy deployment of police forces to ensure that no person can come close to the trucks carrying the toxic waste, official reports reaching here said.
Around 300 police personnel including a dozen officers have been deployed near the disposal site.
Ambulances and fire tenders have also been deployed near the disposal site, sources said.
“We are monitoring the air quality in Pithampur and its nearby areas round-the-clock to check for any kind of air pollution”, an officer of the Central Pollution Control Board (CPCB) deployed at the site told this newspaper, unwilling to be quoted.
Sources said ten kgs of the 337 tons of toxic waste would be incinerated in the disposal plant at Pithapuram first on trial basis and an environment impact study would be made by the CPCB following the trial test before going ahead with the disposal of the entire waste.
Meanwhile, the Congress along with some NGOs have called a day’s bandh in Pithapuram on Friday to protest against the move to dispose of the hazardous waste in the Pithapuram facility.
Chief minister Mohan Yadav here on Thursday slammed Congress for creating fear psychosis among the local people over disposal of the toxic waste at Pithapuram facility, for political gains.
“The Congress regime in the state as well as the Centre had remained mute spectators when the Bhopal gas tragedy had happened. The Congress committed the sin of not doing anything for the victims and the survivors. We will expose their role during the incident in coming days”, Mr Yadav said.
He said the scientific study has confirmed that the toxicity of hazardous waste lasted 25 years and the waste is being disposed of scientifically and hence, there should be no cause for concern on the health of the people.
The trucks carrying toxic waste from the abandoned Union Carbide plant site here started for Pithapuram disposal site at around nine pm on Wednesday via a green corridor, created for the purpose.
“The convoy had been fortified with the highest security protocol ever witnessed in the movement of the industrial waste in the country”, MP gas relief and rehabilitation department director Swatantra Kumar Singh told this newspaper.
