Bhopal: Container trucks carry toxic waste after collecting from the Union Carbide factory for disposal at the Pithampur Industrial Waste Management Facility
Credit: PTI Photo
Jabalpur: The Madhya Pradesh High Court on Thursday granted four weeks to the MP Pollution Control Board (MPPCB) to present a plan for disposal of ash generated by incineration of toxic waste of Union Carbide at Dhar district last month.
A division bench of Justices Atul Sreedharan and Anuradha Shukla accepted the MPPCB's request for more time and posted the next hearing to August 17.
At least 5,479 people were killed and thousands were maimed after highly toxic methyl isocyanate gas leaked from the Union Carbide's pesticide factory in Bhopal on the intervening night of December 2-3, 1984.
In 2004, one Alok Pratap Singh filed a public interest litigation seeking disposal of Union Carbide's toxic waste. After his death, the High Court began hearing the case as a suo motu petition.
Earlier, the state government had submitted a report in the court about the disposal of waste at the Pithampur facility in Dhar.
It stated that 850 metric tonnes of ash and residue generated from the waste would be destroyed in a separate landfill cell after obtaining go ahead from MPPCB.
Another PIL claimed the ash contained radioactive substances and mercury, the latter requiring technology available only in Japan and Germany. The High Court had ordered it to be heard along with the main petition.
During the hearing, MPPCB sought more time to provide information on the disposal timeline for the ash, which the bench granted.
Last month, incineration of the entire 358 tonnes of toxic waste from the defunct Union Carbide factory finally concluded as contaminated soil and packaging material were burnt at a disposal plant in Pithampur.