BHUBANESHWAR, India (Diya TV) — Indian officials said they evacuated 337 metric tons of poisonous waste from the site of a 1984 gas leak tragedy at Bhopal to an incineration plant. It will be destroyed at the Pithampur plant, which is 42 miles from Bhopal, capital of Madhya Pradesh. The entire operation will take three to nine months.
The leak of methyl isocyanate gas from an American Union Carbide Corporation pesticide plant in Bhopal on December 3, 1984, killed over 5,000 people and poisoned more than half a million others. The toxic waste has been a major concern since the disaster, with several environmental and health issues being raised over the years.
Swatantra Kumar Singh, director of the Bhopal gas tragedy relief and rehabilitation department, said that the transportation of the waste was conducted under tight security. A trial incineration of 10 metric tons of waste was completed in 2015, and the process was found to meet national emission standards.
However, activists like Rachna Dhingra, who has closely worked with the survivors of this tragedy, express concern over environmental issues related to incineration. Dhingra said the remaining solid waste would be buried in a landfill, and there is potential for water contamination.
However, protests erupted at Pithampur on Friday due to apprehensions that the waste might damage residents. After social media rumor-mongering began saying one of the containers had disappeared, the site was visited by senior officials on January 5. Sub Divisional Magistrate Pramod Singh Gurjar confirmed all containers were there.
