Bhopal: Two men set themselves ablaze while protesting against the planned incineration of 337 metric tonnes of toxic waste, which had been lying in Bhopal’s Union Carbide factory site for the past 40 years or so, in Dhar’s Pithampur, where residents fear a health and environmental crisis.
The two, Rajkumar Raghuvanshi and Raju Patel, were rushed to the burns unit of a private hospital in Indore and are out of danger now. The incident caught on camera shows them pouring on themselves some liquid, which then catches fire.
The men, on Friday, were participating in a protest by ‘Pithampur Bachao Samiti’ after 12 containers of toxic waste had reached Pithampur from the Union Carbide site.
The waste that spilt out during the 1984 Bhopal gas tragedy, which claimed 5,476 lives as toxic methyl isocyanate leaked from the Union Carbide factory, has still not been taken care of.
After the high court, in December last year, intervened and pulled up the state government for its ‘state of inertia’ and set a four-week deadline for the disposal of the spillover, officials zeroed in on the waste disposal factory in Pithampur, considered the best in the state, to get rid of it.
An industrial area with over 700 factories, Prithampur is where many residents of Dhar and Indore remain employed.
Observing the bandh Friday, shops and markets remained shut, and people came out to protest in large numbers. Police had to resort to lathi-charge to disperse the protesters, who marched to the waste disposal factory, where the incineration was proposed.
Speaking to ThePrint, Priyank Mishra, the district collector in Dhar, said, “The waste disposal unit is meant for discarding such waste. The disposal unit was tested, and the report was submitted to the court, which approved the process. The scientific study is available, and it is all being done in a transparent and accountable manner.”
Mishra said during the protest, the collector and other representatives of the district administration met the protestors individually, listening to their concerns and addressing them. Calling the fire incident unfortunate, Mishra confirmed that after treatment, the two are now out of danger.
“How the fire took place is a matter of investigation, and the police are looking into it. The situation is completely under control.”
(Edited by Madhurita Goswami)