BURNING RESISTANCE

The 337 tonnes of toxic waste from the abandoned Union Carbide plant in Bhopal, awaiting disposal for four decades, has hit a roadblock.

- Rahul Noronha

Opposition from locals in Pithampur, an industrial town 250 km away in Dhar district, has forced the Madhya Pradesh government to temporarily halt the incineration process. The toxic waste is among the most enduring legacies of the 1984 tragedy, in which a leak of methyl isocyanate gas killed nearly 5,500 people and injured over half a million in the state capital.

The protest comes after the MP High Court's December 3, 2024, order, coinciding with the 40th anniversary of the Bhopal gas tragedy-one of the world's worst industrial disasters. The court directed the state to clear the waste within four weeks, backed by a Union government grant of Rs 126 crore. Pithampur-based Ramkey Environment Engineers Limited was chosen to handle the scientific disposal.