On December 2, 1984, a leak of methyl isonatate (MIC) at the Union Carbide plant in Bhopal led to the immediate death of 5,479 innocent people. More than 10,000 people were physically handicapped in the surrounding areas. Five lakh people were affected by the leakage of MIC. Meanwhile, 15,000 people died from infectious diseases caused by gas leaks in the course of 16 years. More than 3,000 animals were killed in this tragedy, while hundreds were injured. However, due to the high number of deaths at that time, attention was not paid to the environmental hazards. In 1999, the international environmental organization Greenpeace tested the ground, water and solids of the area around the Union Carbide plant. Greenpeace found that due to the leakage of MIC, there are now large quantities of pollutants in the ground and water.
The Bhopal gas tragedy has been litigated for 30 years. In February 1989, the Supreme Court ordered all cases related to the tragedy to be settled. However, many cases related to the tragedy have not yet been settled. Forty years after the tragedy, some 377 tonnes of hazardous waste has been transported from the closed Union Carbide factory for dumping. Twelve sealed container trucks carrying Union Carbide waste were transported to Pithampur industrial area in Dhar district, 250 km from Bhopal, and it is being told that if all goes well, the waste will be burnt within three months. Otherwise, it may take about nine months to dispose of the garbage. In Pithampur, 250 km from Bhopal, a massive protest has erupted against the burning of waste related to the gas tragedy.
Hundreds of protesters took to the streets on Friday morning to protest. In this protest, two people also tried to immolate themselves. They are angry over the shifting of waste related to the Bhopal gas tragedy, one of the world's biggest industrial disasters, to Pithampur. Locals protest that burning this garbage in Pithampur will create problems for them.
"We are opposing the plan to transport this garbage from Bhopal to Pithampur and burn it. We have not been told anything about its impact. "If there is no problem in burning or disposing of it, then why was it not disposed of in Bhopal itself? We are not against anyone, just don't dispose of this garbage here. Why are the same problems being created in Pithampur that the people of Bhopal are facing?" Where the garbage is burnt and where its ashes are buried, we have to work and feed ourselves. They earn Rs 100-200 to feed themselves and here politicians are killing people. "This chemical waste can still make the city sick.
The way the people of Bhopal are bearing the brunt of the gas tragedy, its adverse impact can be seen in the residents of Pithampur in the coming days. In fact, diesel and other resources will also be used to burn 337 metric tonnes of garbage, which will not eliminate waste, but it will be almost three times i.e. 900 metric tonnes. The executing agency also believes this, but the poison of this waste will not end after burning.
"At the same time, the poisonous gases that will be released after burning garbage will have a bad effect on the health of the people. "Prior to this, there was a trial of burning garbage in Pithampur seven times, in which toxic chemicals like neurons including dioxide were released while burning this waste 5 times. Despite this, the government is going to endanger the lives of the people of Pithampur after Bhopal by burning this garbage. In 2015, the Central Pollution Control Board (CPCB) had conducted lab tests of waste at the Union Carbide factory in the presence of the Bhopal Gas Tragedy and Rehabilitation Department and the State Pollution Control Board. Then these investigations revealed that carbon waste is present in large quantities in this toxic waste. The waste was found to contain an excess of chlorine, sevin, organochlorine compounds and heavy metals.
In 2005, groundwater testing was done in more than 29 colonies in the settlements around the factory, which revealed that the water of the surrounding settlements has also become poisonous. In such a situation, the Madhya Pradesh Pollution Control Board had sealed all the hand pumps of the gas-affected settlements. There is a provision for fine and punishment for extracting water from hand pumps or bore. Nitrate, chloride and cadmium were found in the groundwater of 15 colonies around the Yonian Carbide factory. The question is, if the court had not expressed its displeasure, would it have really thought of removing the garbage from the now-cursed and closed factory? If the Bhopal gas tragedy was a shocking tragedy, then the fact that it took four decades to remove its toxic waste is equally a testimony to the apathy. However, there is also opposition to taking toxic waste to Pithampur. If the toxic waste is not disposed of properly in the new place, it will prove that even after four decades of the Bhopal tragedy, we have not learned any lessons.