Bhopal gas tragedy: Hazardous waste of Union Carbide to be disposed of, assures govt

The government has decided to dispose of safely the hazardous waste from the Union Carbide factory in Bhopal, the Rajya Sabha was informed today.

"The government has decided to take the necessary remediation measures including the safe disposal of identified quantity of hazardous waste of the erstwhile Union Carbide India Ltd (UCIL) in Bhopal," Environment Minister Anil Madhav Dave said in a written reply. He said trial incineration of 10 tonnes of actual UCIL waste was carried out at common hazardous waste treatment, storage and disposal facility (TSDF) in Pithampur in Indore from August 13-18, 2015 under the supervision of the Central Pollution Control Board (CPCB), the Madhya Pradesh Pollution Control Board and the Environment Ministry.

"The CPCB has reported that all the monitored parameters of the incinerated waste complied with the prescribed parameters of common hazardous waste incinerator as prescribed under schedule I of the Environment ( Protection) Rules, 1986 notified under the Environment (Protection) Act, 1986. "Ambient air quality around incinerator was found to be within the National Ambient Air Quality Standards for monitored parameters namely, PM10, SOx, NOx, arsenic, lead and benzene," he said.

Thirty-two years ago, a gas leak at the Union Carbide had killed and maimed thousands of people in Bhopal. According to media reports, the government is planning for a complete disposal of about 332 tonnes of toxic waste, dumped in the Bhopal factory, through the tender route. The incineration of 10 tonnes of Union Carbide waste was a pilot project initiated by the Ministry, reports said.