Efforts to burn toxic waste from the accident that happened forty years ago are once again in trouble.
Now the poison of Bhopal is handed over to Pithampur. After all, 337 metric tons of waste lying in the Union Carbide plant of the capital Bhopal for the last 40 years has been sent to Pithampur. There was anger among the local people against the burning of Union Carbide’s waste in Pithampur and huge protests started. The protesters reached Ramki Enviro Complex in Pithampur, where the waste is to be disposed of. Seeing the opposition of the people, the local administration imposed Section 163 within a radius of 100 meters. Protesters say they are being used as scapegoats to remove toxic waste from the capital. Seeing the matter increasing, Chief Minister Mohan Yadav has currently put a stop to the garbage disposal operation. Now the government has asked the High Court for six weeks’ time to take a decision on waste.
As soon as Union Carbide’s waste reached Pithampur, a round of protests started. Pithampur Bachao Samiti, Pithampur Raksha Manch, Congress, Rathore Samaj, Kshatriya Samaj, Sen Samaj, Adivasi Samaj, All Trade Union and other organizations staged protests. Demonstrations were held in front of Sanwariya Temple, Akolia Square, Bardari Square, Chhatrachaya Gate, Azad Square, Goodluck Square, AB Road and Manal Hotel and a day-long bandh was observed in Pithampur. During this, the police lathicharged at many places. During a demonstration, two people poured petrol on themselves, when someone opened fire from behind, causing burn injuries to both of them. Both have been admitted to Choithram Hospital in Indore. When the protesters started reaching Ramki Enviro Complex in Pithampur, where the waste is to be disposed, the local administration imposed Section 163 within a radius of 100 meters.
Monica Solanki of Pithampur Bachao Samiti says that just as the waste of Union Carbide of Bhopal came to Pithampur, similarly the protest will continue until it goes to Bhopal. Congress says that Union Carbide’s waste has been hastily dumped in Pithampur. State Congress President Jitu Patwari says that the waste was dumped from here to there in a hurry. There is panic in Pithampur, Indore, Dhar, Betma. “People are setting themselves on fire to wake up the government,” he says. This is a matter of sadness. Until this waste is verified on a technical and scientific basis, it should be stopped at all costs.
Local people protesting against bringing garbage to Pithampur
On the other hand, BJP has used the strength of its workers to deal with the demonstration and protest in Pithampur. Party workers are working to instill confidence among the people regarding burning of garbage. Apart from holding division-wise meetings, these workers are also trying to remove people’s resentment.
Meanwhile, this matter was heard in Jabalpur High Court. Before the Division Bench of the High Court, the government said that due to wrong information the situation in Pithampur deteriorated and worsened. The government has now asked for six weeks’ time from the court. On this, the division bench of Chief Justice Suresh Kumar Kait and Justice Vivek Jain accepted the government’s demand and now the next hearing is to be held on February 18.
The state BJP government claims that in view of court orders, the waste has been taken to Pithampur keeping in mind the safety parameters. The action to eliminate waste will be done under the supervision of Central Pollution Control Board, Madhya Pradesh Pollution Control Board as well as all the concerned teams. Now the government says that it will place the public sentiments regarding waste disposal before the Honorable Court and will take a decision later on that basis.
Chief Minister Mohan Yadav said that he will bring the matter before the Honorable Court and will proceed with any action only after the court’s order. He says that after 40 years of Bhopal gas tragedy, the harmful effects of about 337 metric tons of waste kept in Bhopal have ended. He said that of the remaining waste, more than 60 percent is only local soil, 40 percent is 7-naphthol, reactor residue and semi-processed pesticide waste. The 7-naphthol residue present in it is basically a by-product of the manufacturing process of methyl isocyanate and pesticides. In a discussion with the media, he said that according to experts, its toxic effect almost ends in 25 years.
Trial run regarding carbide waste has already been done. In April 2014, the Supreme Court had directed to conduct another trial run of 10 metric tons of UCIL waste at TSDF Pithampur under the supervision of the Central Government, Ministry of Environment, Forest and Climate Change, New Delhi. The court had also given instructions to do videography of this trial run. As per the instructions, after the trial run in August, 2015, the entire report of the experimental disposal of the Central Pollution Control Board was presented in the Supreme Court. The report made it clear that disposal of this type of waste has not caused any harm to the environment. Only after a thorough examination of all the reports, the Supreme Court issued instructions to UCIL to proceed with the disposal of the waste and destroy them.
The government says that the process of waste disposal is being handled by various central government institutions like NEERI (National Environmental Engineering Research Institute), Nagpur, NGRI (National Geophysical Research Institute), Hyderabad, IICT (Indian Institute of Chemical Technology) and Central Pollution Control Board. Intensive testing has been done by the Board from time to time.
On the basis of their study and the reports presented in the Supreme Court, as per instructions given to the Union Environment Ministry in March, 2013, a trial run on 10 tonnes of Union Carbide equivalent waste from Hindustan Insecticide Limited, Kochi in Kerala was conducted at TSDF, Pithampur under the supervision of the Central Pollution Control Board. Was done in. The report of the successful trial run was presented in the Supreme Court.
The Chief Secretary of Madhya Pradesh conducted a separate investigation based on three detailed points. Officials say the testing points include health checks in nearby villages, impact on crop productivity and testing the quality of regional water sources. After examining all three counts, the government found that UCIL’s handling of the waste did not result in any negative consequences.
This is not the first time that Union Carbide’s waste disposal is facing huge opposition. Earlier, plans were made to dispose the waste in Ankleshwar (Gujarat), Nagpur (Maharashtra) besides Hamburg city of Germany, but it failed every time due to local opposition. One aspect of this is that 12 years ago, the German company GIZ was going to dispose of the waste in Germany, 6 thousand km away from Bhopal, for Rs 25 crore, whereas now the central government has to spend Rs 126 crore on the disposal of the same waste. Are.
However, even after 40 years, Bhopal’s Union Carbide waste remains a huge risk. Thousands of victims are still bearing the brunt of the Bhopal gas tragedy.
