Bhopal gas tragedy: Incineration of Union Carbide factory waste begins on trial basis

The trial incineration of the waste started at 3 PM, a senior official confirmed.

The incineration of 10 tonnes of waste from Bhopal’s Union Carbide plant began on a trial basis at Pithampur in Madhya Pradesh’s Dhar district on Friday afternoon. The process will take around 72 hours to complete, officials said.

The trial incineration of the waste started at 3 PM, a senior official confirmed. This disposal of 10 tonnes of waste, out of the total 337 tonnes from the factory responsible for the 1984 Bhopal gas tragedy, is being conducted on the orders of the Madhya Pradesh High Court.

According to the state government, the Union Carbide plant waste includes soil from the premises of the defunct unit, reactor residues, Sevin (pesticide) residues, naphthol residues, and "semi-processed" residues. The State Pollution Control Board has stated that, based on scientific evidence, the effects of Sevin and naphthol chemicals in this waste have now become "almost negligible."

The board further clarified that there is no presence of methyl isocyanate (MIC) gas in the waste, nor does it contain any radioactive particles.

Indore Division Commissioner Deepak Singh, who visited the incineration plant, said, “We started the process to incinerate the waste at 3 PM. The Pollution Control Board is monitoring the process.”

Dhar District Magistrate Priyank Mishra told reporters that the disposal of the Union Carbide factory waste is being carried out as per the standard operating procedure (SOP) set by the Central and State Pollution Control Boards, following the high court’s order.

The process of incineration is also being broadcast live outside the waste disposal plant in Pithampur, he added.

Srinivas Dwivedi, Regional Officer of the State Pollution Control Board, explained, “Five types of waste from the Union Carbide factory have been mixed in appropriate proportions in a mixer at the Pithampur waste disposal plant. Ten tonnes of waste were dumped in the incinerator. Before this, the temperature of the incinerator was raised to 850 degrees Celsius by running it empty.”

It will take approximately 72 hours to burn 10 tonnes of waste on a trial basis, he said, adding that the ash, solid residue, water, and gases emitted during different stages of the waste destruction process will also be disposed of properly.

A police officer stated that strict security arrangements have been made in the Pithampur industrial area in view of the waste disposal. Senior police and administrative officials are also present at the site.

On the intervening night of December 2 and 3, 1984, highly toxic methyl isocyanate (MIC) gas leaked from the Union Carbide factory in Bhopal, killing at least 5,479 people and crippling thousands. It remains one of the world’s worst industrial disasters.

As part of the plan to dispose of 337 tonnes of waste from the closed Union Carbide factory, it was transported to an industrial waste disposal plant in Pithampur, about 250 km from the state capital, on January 2.

Madhya Pradesh High Court Chief Justice Suresh Kumar Kait and Justice Vivek Jain ordered on February 18 that the first test of 10 tonnes of waste should be conducted on February 27, following safety norms. If no adverse effects are reported, the second test will be conducted on March 4 and the third on March 10. The high court has directed that the report of all three tests be presented before it on March 27.

On February 27, the Supreme Court refused to interfere with the Madhya Pradesh High Court’s order to transfer and dispose of the waste at a plant operated by a private company in Pithampur. A bench of Justices B R Gavai and A G Masih also declined to stay the trial disposal of waste from the Union Carbide factory.

Several protests erupted after the factory waste was brought to Pithampur, with demonstrators expressing concerns about potential harm to human populations and the environment. However, the state government has rejected these claims, asserting that adequate arrangements have been made for the safe disposal of the waste.