Union Carbide waste disposal: SC asks authorities about precautions taken

The Supreme Court on Tuesday, 25 February asked authorities to apprise it about the precautions taken for the disposal of hazardous waste dating back to the 1984 Bhopal gas tragedy in Pithampur area of Madhya Pradesh's Dhar district.

The observation came from a bench of Justices B.R. Gavai and Augustine George Masih after a plea concerning the disposal of waste was mentioned before it for urgent listing.

The apex court had on 17 February sought responses from the Centre, the Madhya Pradesh government and its pollution control board on the plea, which raised the issue of alleged risk to the life and health of residents of the villages situated within a kilometre's radius from the disposal site.

While mentioning the matter for urgent listing, the petitioner's counsel said the Madhya Pradesh High Court had on 18 February allowed the state to carry out a trial run of the disposal of waste from 27 February, and urged the bench to take up the matter on 27 February at the top of the board. The bench said it would hear the plea at serial number one on 27 February.

"We are not going to stop it unless the apprehension is found to be well founded," the bench also observed.

The bench said the authorities should go through the petition and find out whether the concerns raised by the petitioner was with or without substance. It said if there was any substance in the concern raised, it should be specified what steps were being taken by the authorities. "Tell us that you have taken all the precautions," the bench said.

It also observed that ordinarily, the high court should have stayed away if the apex court was seized of the matter.

Hazardous waste of around 377 tonnes from the now defunct Union Carbide factory was shifted to Pithampur industrial area in Dhar district, 250 km from state capital Bhopal and around 30 km from Indore, for disposal at a plant.

Highly toxic methylisocyanate (MIC) leaked from the Union Carbide factory during the intervening night of 2-3 December 1984, killing 5,479 people and maiming more than 5 lakh others in what is considered to be among the world's worst industrial disasters.

On 17 February, the apex court had agreed to hear a plea challenging the high court orders of 3 December 2024 and 6 January this year. In the December order, the high court had rebuked the authorities for not clearing the Union Carbide site in Bhopal despite directions from the Supreme Court, and set a four-week deadline to shift the waste. It had warned the government of contempt proceedings if its directive was not followed.

On the night of 1 January, the shifting of toxic waste began in 12 sealed container trucks for disposal, an official said.

The plea, filed in the apex court through advocate Sarvam Ritam Khare, has said the petitioner was concerned about the decision of the authorities in disposing of 337 tonnes of hazardous chemical waste at Pithampur.

The plea has said at least four-five villages were situated within the one km radius from the disposal site. "The life and health of the residents of these villages are at extreme risk," the plea has alleged. "It is pertinent to mention that the Gambhir river flows besides the facility and caters to the Yashwant Sagar Dam."

It also said this dam supplies drinking water for 40 per cent of Indore's population.

The plea has alleged the authorities have not informed the affected residents of Indore and Dhar districts about the risks or issued health advisories, violating their right to be heard and right to health.

In its 18 February order, the high court had noted that for the trial run, 30 metric tonnes of waste would be disposed in three lots of 10 metric tonnes each.

The trial run for disposal of first 10 metric tonnes would take approximately three-four days, the high court had noted.

It had directed the authorities to undertake first trial run of 10 metric tonnes by taking all protocols into consideration on 27 February and thereafter see its result.

"If there is no adverse effect, the second trial run will take place on March 4, 2025 followed by the third trial run on March 10, 2025 and thereafter based on results of same, after the due tests they will continue to dispose of the remaining waste and file the status report," the high court had said.