BHOPAL/JABALPUR: Madhya Pradesh high court (HC) Tuesday agreed to state govt’s proposal for a retrial of Union Carbide waste disposal at a Pithampur facility so that Central Pollution Control Board (CPCB) can decide what amount of the waste should be incinerated and when.
State govt presented a status report in court on compliance with the HC order for disposal of 337 metric tonnes (MT) of Carbide waste at the Pithampur facility and suggested a three-stage “retrial” to assess environmental impact of the incineration on surrounding areas.
The plan is to incinerate 10MT waste each in three stages – 135kg waste per hour in the first phase, 180kg per hour in the second stage, and finally 270kg per hour. The trials will be conducted on Feb 27, March 4 and March 10.
The report on environmental impact of the 30MT waste incineration will be sent to CPCB to decide how much of the remaining waste should be incinerated when and in what quantity.
The bench of Chief Justice Suresh Kumar Kait and Justice Vinay Jain approved the plan.
The last time such an environmental impact trial was conducted was in 2015 when 10MT Union Carbide waste was incinerated at the Pithampur facility. However, individuals and groups – who were interveners in the PIL seeking disposal of Carbide waste – had argued at the previous hearing in HC that results of a trial conducted almost 10 years ago cannot be relied upon.
The alumni association of Mahatma Gandhi Medical College, Indore, and some other groups filed an application in HC against the proposed disposal of waste at Pithampur, contending that the trial run was carried out far too long ago and, in the wake of public apprehensions, fresh trials are needed.
HC asked state govt to take into consideration the points raised by the interveners, while giving six more weeks to dispose of the waste.
