Waste from Bhopal Gas Tragedy reaches Pithampur for disposal. ‘There’s about 1.1 mn tonnes still there’

337 mt of waste reached Pithampur for incineration early on 2 January. A facility will mix it with burning agents, put it through incinerator & and then bury ash safely in landfill.

Bhopal pesticide plant of Union Carbide India Limited | Wikimedia Commons

New Delhi: Four decades after the deadly gas leak claimed more than 5,000 lives and injured lakhs of others, 337 metric tonnes of toxic chemical waste from the Union Carbide plant reached Pithampur in Madhya Pradesh for incineration early on 2 January.

However, activists who have been working with the victims and tracking the Bhopal case for years, allege that the waste doesn’t even account for one percent of the total toxic matter left behind after the methyl isocyanate gas leak in 1984.

“There’s about 1.1 million tonnes of soil in and around the factory premises that is contaminated and still sitting there,” Rachna Dhingra from the Bhopal Group of Information and Action told ThePrint. “When will that be addressed? Is removing the waste from inside the factory enough?” 

A month ago, on 3 December, the Madhya Pradesh High Court pulled up the Bhopal Gas Tragedy Relief and Rehabilitation (BGTRR) Department of the MP government for inaction in getting rid of the waste that had been sitting in the factory premises for over 40 years.

The order, a copy of which is with ThePrint, said that it was a “sorry state of affairs” as the authorities had not yet removed the toxic waste, or cleaned up the contaminated soil and water, and decommissioned the plant.

“The steps for removal of toxic waste/material shall be taken and sent to the place assigned within four weeks from today,” read the order passed on 3 December, directing the principal secretary of BGTRR to carry out the necessary obligations.

Twelve trucks carried the 337 metric tonnes of waste comprising pesticide residue, carbaryl, and contaminated soil from Bhopal to Pithampur, which is 250 km away. At Pithampur, a facility run by the private company Re Sustainability will mix the waste with burning agents, put it through an incinerator, and then bury the ash safely in a landfill.

While there is no exact date for when the incineration process will begin, it could take anywhere from three to nine months, according to the BGTRR.

‘It is not enough’

Multiple news organisations’ reports, including by ThePrint, have highlighted the apprehensions of Pithampur residents and activists who fear that improper disposal of the waste could risk turning their village into “another Bhopal”. Doctors from Indore filed a petition in the high court on 30 December asking to stop the disposal process in Pithampur, citing concerns about an increase in cancer and breathing issues among residents.

Dhingra explains that the high levels of dioxins and furans—two gases released during waste combustion—make the incineration of any material a hotly debated topic globally.

“This isn’t one-time exposure either—the process is expected to go on for three to nine months, which means continuous release of these gases into the air in Pithampur,” said Dhingra. “The 300 metric tonnes of waste will produce 900 metric tonnes of ash which will be buried in Pithampur. And it still doesn’t get rid of all the waste from Bhopal’s gas leak.”

Quoting a 2010 report by the government-run National Environmental Engineering Research Institute (NEERI), Dhingra points out that the toxic matter from the gas tragedy is estimated at 1.1 million tonnes of soil and groundwater around the factory. NEERI had found signs of contamination across this region and suggested remediation and decontamination of the soil and water using landfills and pump systems.

The Bhopal Group of Information and Action has also compiled a list of studies conducted on Bhopal’s soil, water, and atmospheric elements for signs of contamination from 1989 to 2018. The Central Pollution Control Board, the Indian Institute of Toxicology Research, the Union Carbide Corporation, and even the MP government’s State Research Laboratory have all found evidence of contamination in the soil and water around the factory.

However, until now, there has been no action by the BGTRR on treating this material.

“According to the honourable high court, we were asked to dispose of the 337 metric tonnes of waste inside the factory premises within three weeks, and we have done so,” BGTRR director Swatantra Kumar Singh told ThePrint. “They have not asked us to do anything about the soil or other contaminated matter near the factory.” 

While the HC order of 3 December does not specifically mention 337 metric tonnes, instead referring only to the “entire toxic waste/material” of the tragedy, Singh says that his department has completed their end of the agreement.

Since the matter is still sub-judice, he said the department will decide what to do if and when the court asks it to take action on the soil and groundwater contamination and detoxification of the factory premises.

(Edited by Radifah Kabir)