Union Carbide waste disposal: HC grants six weeks to MP govt

The Madhya Pradesh High Court on Monday granted six weeks to the state government to act on the Union Carbide factory waste disposal as per safety guidelines, and set 18 February as the next date of hearing.

The state government submitted a status report on the matter and also informed the court about protests related to the disposal. During the hearing, a petitioner, objecting to the disposal of the Bhopal gas tragedy's hazardous waste from the plant, told the court that the state government had transported chemical waste without consulting residents of the Pithampur industrial area.

Advocate Abhinav Dhanotkar, who represented the petitioner (a group of doctors of MGM College Indore), contended that the Pithampur industrial area, where the toxic waste is supposed to be incinerated, is more than 35 km from the state's largest city, Indore. He also argued that hazardous waste has long-lasting impact.

Meanwhile, after submitting a detailed status report on the collection of waste, its transportation, and the agitation in Pithampur, the state government urged the court to provide six weeks for the incineration of toxic waste.

The bench of Chief Justice Suresh Kumar Kait and Justice Vivek Jain said concerns raised by other parties, including MGM doctors, would also be listened. The division bench granted time to the state government after advocate-general Prashant Singh sought more time.

The move to dispose of 337 tons of Union Carbide waste at Pithampur, about 250 km from state capital Bhopal, has triggered protests, including two self-immolation bids. During the last hearing on 3 December 2024, the HC pulled up authorities for failing to dispose of the waste at the now-defunct factory in Bhopal.

Even 40 years after the gas disaster, the authorities are in a “state of inertia” that may cause another disaster, the court observed. The high court had asked the government to remove and transport the waste from the site within four weeks and warned of contempt proceedings if the directive was not acted upon. The HC direction was based on a writ petition filed in 2004 for the disposal of waste from the Union Carbide plant, which had triggered one of the world’s worst industrial disasters.

Before the waste, packed in sealed containers, reached Dhar district on Thursday and the ensuing protests there, Swatantra Kumar Singh, director of the state's gas relief and rehabilitation department, had said if everything was found to be fine, the waste would be burned to ashes within three months.

The Bhopal gas tragedy occurred when, on the intervening night of 2-3 December 1984, deadly methylisocyanate gas leaked from the Union Carbide pesticide factory, killing at least 5,479 people and leaving thousands with serious injuries and long-lasting health damage.