Burning of toxic waste closes macabre chapter

All 337 tons of waste of Union Carbide factory burnt to ashes at disposal unit in MP

- PRESS TRUST OF INDIA

All 337 tons of waste of the now defunct Union Carbide factory in Bhopal has been burnt to ashes at a disposal plant in Pithampur, nearly six months after being brought to the unit, an official said Monday.

While 30 tons of the waste was burnt earlier during three trials at the plant, the remaining 307 tons was incinerated between May 5 and the intervening night of June 29-30, the State Pollution Control Board official said, marking the end of a dark chapter of the 1984 Bhopal gas tragedy.

The waste disposal at the plant in Dhar district's Pithampur industrial area was undertaken following directives of the Madhya Pradesh High Court.

The highly poisonous methyl isocyanate gas leaked from the Union Carbide factory in Bhopal on the intervening night of December 2 and 3, 1984, causing one of the biggest industrial disasters in the world. At least 5,479 persons were killed and thousands were maimed.