All 337 Tonnes of Union Carbide Waste Disposed

All 337 tonnes of waste from 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 on Monday.

- HTC and agencies

INDORE:

While 30 tonnes of the waste was burnt earlier during three trials at the plant, the remaining 307 tonnes 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 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 people were killed and thousands were maimed.

Since the incident, about 337 tonnes of toxic waste was left in the Union Carbide factory in Bhopal, and a petition demanding its disposal was filed in 2004.

On December 3, 2024, the MP high court ordered the disposal of the toxic waste. Later, on January 2, the toxic waste was transported to Pithampur in 12 containers, but amid protests by locals, the disposal was halted.