Indore, Apr 11 (PTI) The Pollution Control Board (PCB) has issued an advisory to a private company for essential works at its waste disposal plant in Pithampur, where waste from the defunct Union Carbide factory in Bhopal is to be incinerated, an official said on Friday.

The Madhya Pradesh High Court has allowed the state government to dispose of the chemical waste at the unit in Dhar district after it was told that trial incineration did not cause any adverse consequences.

“On the High Court’s instructions, the waste left over from the Union Carbide factory is to be disposed of at the waste disposal plant in Pithampur. The PCB has issued an advisory to a private company operating the plant,” Indore division commissioner (revenue) Deepak Singh told PTI.

According to the advisory, some essential works needed to be carried out at the Pithampur plant, and once these are completed, the process of burning the remaining waste will begin at this unit.

Singh, however, did not give details of the works but said they were expected to be completed in two weeks.

As per the high court’s directive on March 27, the remaining Union Carbide waste is to be burned at a maximum rate of 270 kg per hour under the supervision of technical experts of the Central and State pollution control boards.

The state government estimates that the entire waste can be burnt in 72 days.

On February 18, the HC allowed the state government to carry out a trial run at Pithampur in three phases.

On January 2, a total of 337 tonnes of waste was transported to the waste disposal plant operated by a private company in Pithampur, about 250 km from the state capital.

On the intervening night of December 2 and 3, 1984, highly toxic Methyl Isocyanate gas leaked from Union Carbide’s pesticide factory in Bhopal.

At least 5,479 people were killed, and thousands of others suffered disabilities and other health problems following the gas leak, considered to be one of the worst industrial disasters in the world.

After the waste from the factory was transported to Pithampur, an industrial town, there were protests, with local leaders apprehending that the disposal would affect people’s health and the environment. Some activists approached the high court.

The state government, however, assured that the process will be safe.

According to the state government, the waste from the Union Carbide factory includes soil from the premises of this closed unit, reactor residues, Sevin (pesticide) residues, naphthal residues and “semi-processed” residues.

The state pollution control board has stated that according to scientific evidence, the effect of Sevin and naphthal in this waste has now become “almost negligible”.

There is no presence of methyl isocyanate gas in this waste, and it does not contain any radioactive particles, it said. PTI HWP MAS ARU