Toxic waste from India’s deadliest industrial disaster taken away for disposal after 40 years
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Gas leak from Union Carbide pesticide plant in 1984 killed over 20,000 people and poisoned half a million. A convoy of trucks cleared away 337 metric tonnes of hazardous waste from the site of the Bhopal gas tragedy, 40 years after India’s worst industrial disaster.
The trucks left the abandoned Union Carbide plant in the capital of Madhya Pradesh on Wednesday night despite protests by workers of the disposal plant the waste was destined for. A gas leak from the pesticide plant on the night of 2 December 1984 wound up killing over 20,000 people – activists working in the affected community put the toll much higher – and poisoning half a million.
The toxic waste was transported under heavy security for disposal at a plant in Pithampur, 230km away, Bhopal Gas Tragedy Relief and Rehabilitation Department director Swatantra Kumar Singh said. “The 12 container trucks carrying the waste set off on a nonstop journey around 9pm,” he said. “A green corridor was created for the nearly seven-hour journey of the vehicles to the Pithampur industrial area in Dhar district.”.
Nearly 100 workers toiled over four days to load the trucks. The workers “underwent health checkups and were given rest every 30 minutes”, Mr Singh said. “The 337 metric tonnes of waste will undergo scientific disposal within three to nine months,” he said.
Five district administrations were put on alert and some 700 security personnel were deployed to move the convoy, TheTimes of India reported. The long-pending disposal of the toxic waste began after the state High Court last month set a four-week deadline to clear it away.
