The waste disposal facility in Pithampur is visible where there was a huge amount of waste from the Bhopal carbide factory for disposal in the Dhar, Madhya Pradesh district. | Photo Credit: PTI
The Madhya Pradesh High Court ordered the State Government to consider moving the burial ground to 850 tons of remnants generated from the combustion of toxic waste from the Union carbide in Bhopal to a place away from human dwellings and submitted a plan in this respect.
The divisional bench of judges Atul Sreedharan and Anuradha Shukl went through instructions 31. The petitioners protested against the disposal of the burned ash in Pithampura, the industrial city in the Dhar district, where 358 tons of toxic waste were burned in July.
Toxic waste has been stored in Union Carbide India Ltd. (Ucil) After decades after the tragedy of the Bhopal Gas tragedy of 1984, which led to death 5,479 people and caused serious health problems for more than five Lakhs. The waste was burned in a private fachampura, more than 40 years after the incident.
The Court, which acknowledges that the rest remains toxic and cannot be exposed to the environment, ordered the state to explore the feasibility of transition to the place of retention to a place uninhabited and located in a low seismic risk zone.
“Since it is undisputed that the rest of the combustion process is also toxic and must be contained for nearly 40 years, this court will order the state to quickly explore the question of moving the place of retention from dwelling to the place wherever in the state, the least seismic zone and far from the dwelling, not far from life. It is not life, and it is not human lifetime, and it is not human, and it is not human lifetime, and on an animal, and is not a human zone, and animals, and that it is on an animal, and animals, and it is not life, and is not a human zone. Animal, and for animals, and that it is a random escape/ discharge/ adversely affected, ”said the bench.
The court also convened an expert committee, which previously established, including a representative of the Central Council for Control (CPCB), Madhya Pradesh (MPPCB) and the National Research Institute for the Environment (Neeri).
The Court noted that it has proven that “the state of art, which is an underground retention of this ash, will be built” to safely destroy the remains.
“From now on, however, the same retention equipment is 500 meters from the dwelling, as stated by experts and 50 meters, as the petitioners said,” said Lavička.
The Court also ordered the panel of experts to make an affidavit that the potential leaching of toxic elements into water sources would remain at the permissible security limits.
The Bhopal Group (BGIA), which works for gas tragedy victims, demands that the toxic rest be sent to the United States as part of the “polluters” principle, as Dow Chemical Company – a company based in the US – in 2001.
Member and petitioner Bgia Rachn Dhingra also raised concerns about the level of mercury emissions during the combustion process and claimed that the authorities did not publish the exact amount.
“He claims that minimal mercury emissions claim during waste combustion. It is said that it is also not in the rest. So the question is that because Mercury was in a large amount of waste where it went?” Mrs. Dhingra said and talked to Hindu.
The inhabitants of Pithampur, especially the inhabitants of five villages near the waste processing facility, previously opposed commitment and now feared contamination of water and land from potential leaks in the proposed burial ground.
Published – 1 August 2025 22:56
