40-vehicle convoy, 700 security guards: The mammoth task of shifting 337 tonnes of toxic Union Carbide waste

BHOPAL: Trucks carrying hazardous waste left over from the 1984 gas tragedy began rolling out of the abandoned Union Carbide site in Bhopal for a disposal plant in Pithampur, 230km away, on Wednesday night, even as workers of other factories in the industrial estate near Indore voiced concern about their safety.
“Transportation to Pithampur has begun. The convoy has been fortified with the highest security protocol ever witnessed in movement of industrial waste in the co- untry,” said MP gas relief and rehabilitation department director Swatantra Kumar Singh. TOIhad reported on Wednesday that the trucks were loaded and ready to move.
At 9pm, the convoy carrying 337 metric tons of waste in sealed containers set out from Bhopal, escorted by police and emergency vehicles along a green corridor.
Forty years of wait and four days of suspense had ended. The scars of the world’s worst industrial disaster may never heal, but a chapter from the tragic episode is drawing to a close. It would take about seven hours to reach the final destination, said Singh.
The convoy of 40 vehicles stretched over a kilometre. Twelve trucks are carrying the hazardous cargo. It’s a nohalt, no-stop journey to Pithampur Waste Management Pvt Ltd, where the waste will be incinerated. Five district administrations are on high alert. Around 700 security personnel have been deployed for the convoy.
“The 337 MT of UCIL waste will undergo scientific disposal within three to nine months,” said Singh.
It took strong words from the Madhya Pradesh high court to get the administration moving on the long-pending disposal of this toxic waste.
“Are you waiting for another tragedy,” a division bench of Chief Justice Suresh Kumar Kait and Justice Vivek Jain had asked the authorities in their Dec 3 order. The HC set a deadline of four weeks to shift the hazardous waste for dispo- sal. Singh has repeatedly assured that all safety factors have been taken care of and there is no risk to the environment, land, or people around the disposal plant at Pithampur.
On Wednesday, aiming to ease anxiety among Pithampur residents and industrialists about the Union Carbide waste disposal, MP pollution control board regional officer in Indore Shriniwas Dwivedi issued a video statement explaining the safety precautions. “A special shed has been created with a concrete floor. It is leakproof. No activity will be carried out that will affect the people, farm, property, land or environment.” he said.