Dhar (Madhya Pradesh) [India], February 14 : Toxic waste from the Bhopal gas tragedy site was finally unloaded at the Pithampur factory in Madhya Pradesh on Thursday, but there's no indication of when the incineration process will begin, an official said.
The 12 containers filled with toxic waste were transported to Pithampur on January 1, marking a significant step towards disposing of the hazardous materials that have been lingering for four decades.
The Bhopal gas tragedy considered the world's worst industrial disaster, occurred on the night of December 2-3, 1984, when deadly gas leaked from the Union Carbide India Limited pesticide plant, claiming thousands of lives.
Four decades after a tragic incident, the toxic waste materials from Bhopal's Union Carbide factory site were transported to Pithampur for safe disposal on the night of January 1. Since then, the trucks carrying containers have been parked at the factory site in Pithampur. Those containers were only unloaded from the trucks in the presence of local public representatives on Thursday.
The District administration released a video to share the information in which Pithampur Sub-Divisional Magistrate (SDM) Pramod Singh Gurjar said, "Today, we along with the local public representatives have come here at the disposal factory site and as it was said in the previous meetings that these containers have to be unloaded from the trucks because it was lying for a long time. It does not mean that the incineration of waste will begin. Such info is completely baseless and one should not spread any misinformation among the public."
"The containers are only being unloaded from the truck and no other action is being followed. All the local public representatives are present on the spot and the activity is being done under their supervision," he added.
Earlier, on January 6, Madhya Pradesh Chief Minister Mohan Yadav assured that the state government is committed to following the High Court's directions for disposing of the toxic waste. The government transported the waste to Pithampur, the only center equipped to process chemicals containing harmful elements using scientific methods.
CM told ANI, "Based on the various directions of the Supreme Court and the High Court for the disposal of Union carbide factory site's toxic waste, we transported it to Pithampur as it is the only centre where all types of chemicals containing harmful elements are processed by scientific methods. We put our side before the High Court again, as I announced earlier that we would ask for time from the court for all these things until we take all the people into confidence. I am satisfied that the High Court has accepted it and has given a time of six weeks for it."
"In the meantime, all the parties and if anyone else wants to keep their side then they can present it before the court and the state government would follow the decision of the court," the CM said.
Naman Nagrath, advocate for petitioners, said that the state government sought time of six weeks to follow the order dated Dec 3, on which the High Court granted that time to the government.
"The next hearing into the matter is scheduled on February 18," he added.