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900 tonnes of toxic ash post-incineration of Union Carbide waste causes unease in MP town

INDORE: About 900 tonnes of toxic ash generated in the process of incinerating waste from the Union Carbide plant in Bhopal five months ago is still lying around in Pithampur industrial hub in Madhya Pradesh, anxiety in the area mounting with each passing day. Nearly five months ago, the toxic waste, soil and packaging material brought from the Bhopal unit, the site of the 1984 gas tragedy, was incinerated at a plant in Pithampur, an industrial town in adjoining Dhar district. The incineration of entire 358 tonnes of matter -- 337 tonnes of toxic waste, 19 tonnes of contaminated soil and 2.2 tonnes of packaging material -- from the defunct Union Carbide factory had concluded in the beginning of July, over six months after the consignment was transported from Bhopal. The waste was burned in an incinerator using a scientific process, mixing lime and other materials, producing approximately 900 tonnes of ash, officials said. They said the state government had planned to bury the generated ash in a landfill cell under construction on the premises of the Pithampur plant, located near Tarpura, a village with a population of about 20,000, in Dhar district. However, nearly two months back , the Madhya Pradesh High Court directed the state government to find an alternative site to dispose of the ash, saying its disposal near human habitation is unacceptable. According to officials, the ash is currently safely stored in the plant's leak-proof storage shed. At least 5,479 people were killed and thousands were maimed after the highly toxic methyl isocyanate gas leaked from the Union Carbide's pesticide factory in Bhopal on the intervening night of December 2-3, 1984, making it one of the biggest industrial disasters in the world. The Jabalpur bench of the high court on October 8 this year rejected a proposal to bury the ash of the toxic waste in a landfill cell being constructed on the Pithampur plant's premises, stating that the facility was too close to human habitation. The present containment site for the toxic ash in proximity to human habitation is unacceptable to this court, the HC said. In its order, the court referred to an interim application filed by an intervener, which stated that tests had found mercury levels in the toxic ash to be above the permissible limit. The application has been filed by the intervener, which discloses that the tests conducted on the toxic ash still reveal the presence of mercury, which is higher than the permissible limits as disclosed in the Madhya Pradesh Pollution Control Board's report dated August 12, 2025, the HC said. It also directed the state government to file a report citing alternative sites for containment of this ash. Under the circumstances, the state is directed to file a report citing alternative sites for containment and also inform the court whether a global tender was floated in order to obtain the best technical expertise of companies/agencies, which may have unimpeachable technical prowess in executing a work of this nature and have dealt with similar cases of containment of toxic chemical waste, it said. The government officials refuse to comment on the disposal plan, saying the matter was sub judice. Speaking on the condition of anonymity, an official, however, told PTI on Tuesday that the contract awarded to a private company for the disposal of Union Carbide waste includes burying the ash in a dedicated landfill cell within the Pithampur plant premises, and that all safety standards are being observed during this construction. The construction of this landfill cell is in its final stages, he said. Pithampur, about 30 km from Indore, is a major industrial area in the state. This industrial area houses approximately 1,250 units, employing thousands of workers, including migrant workers from various states across the country. Social activists in Pithampur are not in favour of burying the ash in a landfill cell at a waste disposal unit adjacent to human habitation. Hemant Kumar Hirole, head of local organisation 'Pithampur Bachao Samiti', said the toxic ash should be disposed of in a secluded area, because in the event of an accident, a malfunction in the landfill cell could cause serious harm to the human population and the environment. Hirole's petition is among five petitions being heard simultaneously by the HC regarding the Union Carbide waste. He said, At present, we have no information on whether the state government has selected an alternative site for the disposal of the toxic ash. The state government should clarify the status soon. Over the past four decades, several plans to dispose of the toxic waste at plants in India and abroad were made and cancelled amid protests. However, it was finally incinerated and reduced to ashes this year at a waste disposal plant operated by a private company in Pithampur. The State Pollution Control Board officials claimed that emissions of particulate matter, sulfur dioxide, carbon monoxide, hydrogen sulfide, hydrogen fluoride, and nitrogen oxides, as well as mercury, cadmium, and other heavy metals, were found to be within standard limits during the incineration of the factory waste. They also said the incineration of Union Carbide factory waste at the Pithampur plant did not cause any adverse health effects to plant workers or residents of the surrounding areas. The waste was transported to the Pithampur plant, about 250 km from Bhopal, on January 2 this year. This led to several protests in Pithampur. Protesters expressed concerns about the potential harm to human populations and the environment from the disposal of this waste, a claim the state government flatly dismissed.