Bhopal: Four decades after the Bhopal gas tragedy, billed as the world’s worst industrial disaster till date, toxic wastes, stored in the shed of the now-closed Union Carbide’s pesticide plant here, are yet to be disposed of.
A move to destroy the wastes was first initiated in 2005 with a trial disposal of ten of the 347 tons of toxic wastes, stored in the form of liquid inside the premise of the plant site, in the Pithapuram incineration facility in Dhar district in Madhya Pradesh.
However, the public protests over the disposal of toxic waste in the area led to the suspension of the move.
A fresh move was initiated to clear the toxic waste of the disaster site in March this year when the Centre released Rs 126 crore to the Madhya Pradesh government for the purpose.
Auction for the disposal of the toxic waste was done and an agency, Pithapuram Waste Disposal Private Limited, was chosen for the purpose.
It has been decided that the toxic waste will be retrieved from the Union Carbide plant site here and transported to Pithapuram incineration facility, nearly 300 km from here, for their destruction.
The whole process of retrieval of toxic wastes, their transportation and destruction would be done under the supervision of the Central Pollution Control Board (CPCB), official sources said here on Monday.
The CPCB has also been assigned the task of assessing the environmental impact of the destruction of the toxic wastes at the disposal site.
However, the fresh plan to dispose of the toxic wastes is yet to take off ‘due to administrative issues’, a senior bureaucrat told this newspaper here, unwilling to be quoted.
When contacted, minister for tribal affairs and Bhopal gas tragedy departments Vijay Shah said that the process to dispose of the toxic wastes has already been set in motion.
“The file regarding the issue has been sent to Chief Minister Mohan Yadav for clearance after discussion”, Mr Shah told this newspaper.
Interestingly, the state government is yet to make any decision on how to deal with the remaining 11 lakh tons of contaminated soil, one ton of mercury and 150 tons of underground dumps at the site.
“We are now totally focused on the disposal of 337 tons of toxic wastes stored in the shed of the disaster site”, the babu said.
Meanwhile, the Centre sent a proposal to the state government to undertake fresh studies on the extent of contamination of soil and groundwater due to the toxic wastes at the site six months ago.
The Bhopal gas tragedy which took place on the intervening night of December two-three, 1984 led to killing of over 15,000 people and injuries to six lakh others.