Bhopal Gas Tragedy: Pithampur Residents Protest Incineration Of UCC Hazardous Waste In City; Fear Air, Water Contamination

Pithampur (Madhya Pradesh): Residents of Pithampur have expressed strong objection to incineration of 377 Metric Tonnes of harmful Union Carbide waste brought from Bhopal.

They staged protests against the disposal of harmful chemical waste, citing health and environmental risks on Thursday at the Pithampur bus stand.

The total hazardous waste consists of nearly 162 metric tonnes of soil, 92 metric tonnes of Sevin and naphthol residues, 54 metric tonnes of semi-processed pesticides, and 29 metric tonnes of reactor waste. It also contains methyl isocyanate (MIC), linked to the 1984 gas leak disaster.

The toxic waste will be disposed by Pithampur’s Ramky Environment Management Engineering (REEL). The waste will undergo incineration in the phase-1 of disposal.

School students participate in protest

Notably, the protest even saw the participation of school children on the site. Protesters carried banners and raised slogans. They demanded that authorities must reconsider the decision and find safer ways to manage the hazardous waste.

CM Mohan Yadav assures safe incineration

Talking about the disposal procedures of the hazardous residue of the Bhopal Gas Tragedy, MP CM Mohan Yadav stated that it would be done under the guidance of scientists and it will cause no impact to the environment.

He explained that Supreme Court issued an order for the scientific disposal of the waste after reviewing the report of trial disposal held in 2015, which turned out to be harmless.

According to information, the trial incineration of 10 MT was conducted in August 2015 at the CHW-TSDF facility in Pithampur, under the supervision of the Central Pollution Control Board (CPCB), Ministry of Environment, Forest and Climate Change, Madhya Pradesh Pollution Control Board (MPPCB), and Madhya Pradesh government.

The trials confirmed compliance with all environmental regulations.