Union Carbide waste disposal: 1st phase of trial ends in Pithampur after 75 hours

Indore: At least 10 tonnes of toxic waste linked to the 1984 gas tragedy at Bhopal's Union Carbide plant has been incinerated at a facility in Madhya Pradesh's Pithampur by the end of the first phase of trial of the waste disposal, an official said.

The gas emissions during the trial remained within standard limits, the official said on Monday.

The trial incineration of 10 out of 337 tonnes of hazardous waste, transported from the now-defunct Union Carbide factory in Bhopal to Pithampur in Dhar district in January for safe disposal, commenced on February 28 afternoon.

The first phase of the trial burning of the waste at a disposal facility was completed on Monday, the official said.

Talking to reporters, Indore Division Commissioner Deepak Singh said, "We began the incineration of 10 tonnes of Union Carbide factory waste at Pithampur's waste disposal facility on Friday, and the process was completed on Monday."

Without disclosing specific details, Singh said the gas emissions during the first phase of the trial remained within permissible limits.

A team from the Pollution Control Board closely monitored the entire process, and the air quality remained normal in both Pithampur and Indore, about 30 km from the facility, he said.

Preparations are underway for the second phase of the trial on March 4, in which another 10 tonnes of waste will be incinerated, Singh said.

In a press statement, the pollution board said, "The emissions from this incineration plant during waste disposal in the last 24 hours, including particulate matter (PM), sulfur dioxide, nitrogen oxides, carbon monoxide, hydrogen chloride, hydrogen fluoride, and total organic carbon, were found to be within the standard limits."

"The emissions recorded during the first phase of testing are being analysed, and the second phase of testing is scheduled to begin on March 4 (Tuesday)," it added.

The board is monitoring ambient air quality at five locations around the hazardous waste disposal plant in Pithampur, including three villages, while the Union Carbide waste is being incinerated, the statement said.

Srinivas Dwivedi, regional officer of the MP Pollution Control Board, told PTI that the first trial of burning Union Carbide waste lasted for about 75 hours, during which 135 kilograms of waste was fed into the incinerator every hour.

During the second phase of testing, 180 kg of waste would be incinerated per hour, he added.

Nearly 60 officials and employees were involved in the first phase of testing, including around 20 personnel from the central and state pollution control boards, who monitored the process, Dwivedi said.

"The staff involved in the testing were rotated every eight hours," he said.

According to the Madhya Pradesh government, the waste from the Union Carbide factory includes contaminated soil from the defunct facility, reactor residues, Sevin (pesticide) residues, naphthol residues, and "semi-processed" waste.

Earlier, the MP Pollution Control Board stated that scientific evidence suggests the presence of Sevin and naphthol chemicals in the waste is now "almost negligible".

The board has claimed that methyl isocyanate (MIC) gas responsible for the 1984 disaster is no longer present in the waste, nor does it contain any radioactive particles.

The Bhopal gas tragedy, which occurred during the night of December 2-3, 1984, involved a catastrophic leak of MIC gas from the Union Carbide facility, resulting in the death of at least 5,479 persons and left thousands with severe health repercussions, marking it as one of the deadliest industrial disasters in history.

There are 1,250 units in Pithampur industrial area where more than one lakh persons work, including migrants from other states.

A police official said tight security cover is in place around Pithampur's industrial area amid the waste disposal process.

A large contingent of police has been deployed around the incineration site as several protests were staged ever since the 337 tonnes of waste was brought to Pithampur from Bhopal, some 250 kilometres away, in special trucks on January 2.

The trial incineration of this waste is being conducted as per directives of the Madhya Pradesh High Court.

In its order passed on February 18, the high court directed the state government to undertake the first trial run of 10 metric tonnes by taking all protocols into consideration on February 27.

The court also instructed authorities to get back to it with all three trial reports by March 27.

On February 27, the Supreme Court refused to interfere with the Madhya Pradesh HC's order to transport and dispose of the waste.