Bhopal (Madhya Pradesh): Over 12 containers, carrying around 337 tonnes of toxic waste, from the premises of Union Carbide India Limited (UCIL) will drive to Indore's Pithampur area from Bhopal, for which a green corridor has been created.
All the containers will move together through a green corridor of around 250 km between the UCIL site to the dumping point in Pithampur. The process of packing and loading hazardous waste, which began on Sunday, was underway.
The authorities will move the waste to Pithampur Industrial Waste Management Pvt. Ltd. The Bhopal Gas Tragedy Relief and Rehabilitation Department officials suggest that containers will move once the loading work is completed. Waste packing is being done in airtight bags and containers amid tight security and under the supervision of senior officials, ensuring the safety of workers enrolled for it.
All roads leading towards defunct UCIL premises have been banned. The waste is expected to be moved to Pithampur in Dhar district any day now as the state government has to submit an affidavit in the High Court's Jabalpur bench on January 3.
The process for disposal of toxic waste is being started following the Madhya Pradesh High Court's order on December 3. The court granted three weeks to the state government to complete the disposal process.
Notably, the waste has been lying at the UCIL premises since the Bhopal gas tragedy on the intervening night of December 2 and 3 in 1984 when a highly toxic gas, methyl isocyanate, leaked from the factory killing 5,479 people, as per the government estimates.
The government figures also show that the tragedy disabled many and had serious health implications for more than five lakh people over the years. Meanwhile, a group of Indore-based doctors filed a petition before the MP HC on Monday, contending that incineration of the toxic waste in Pithampur will be harmful to the residents in Pithampur and Indore, about 35 km from the industrial town.
In their petition filed before the Indore bench, the doctors have sought an urgent hearing into the matter, however, the court is yet to list the matter for hearing.
(Except for the headline, this article has not been edited by FPJ's editorial team and is auto-generated from an agency feed.)
