Authorities say burning poison is safe for the environment as activists raise concerns about possible water pollution.
Indian authorities say they have moved hundreds of tons of hazardous waste left over more than 40 years after the world's deadliest industrial disaster struck the city of Bhopal.
The trash from the site 1984 disasterwhich has killed more than 25,000 people and left at least half a million people with serious health problems, will be sent to a disposal facility where it will take three to nine months to burn, officials said Thursday.
In the early hours of December 3, 1984, methyl isocyanate gas leaked from a pesticide factory owned by the American Union Carbide Corporation, poisoning more than half a million people in Bhopal, the capital of the Indian state of Madhya Pradesh.
More than 40 years later, on Thursday morning, a convoy of trucks transported 337 metric tons of that poison to a waste disposal plant in the Madhya Pradesh industrial town of Pithampur, 230km (142 miles) from Bhopal.
Swatantra Kumar Singh, director of Bhopal's Gas Pollution Relief and Rehabilitation Department, told Reuters news agency that the waste would be disposed of in an environmentally safe manner that would not harm the local ecosystem.
The federal pollution control agency had tested the waste disposal process in 2015 with 10 metric tons of toxins, finding that the resulting emission levels were in line with national standards, the government said. of the state in statement.
However, activists say that the solid waste would be buried in a landfill after burning, polluting the water and creating an environmental problem.
“Why the polluter Carbide Union and Dow Chemical not being forced to clean up their toxic waste in Bhopal? ” asked Rachna Dhingra, a Bhopal-based activist who has been working with survivors of the disaster.
Ground water pollution
Built in 1969, the Union Carbide plant, now owned by Dow Chemical, was seen as a symbol of industry in India, generating thousands of jobs for the poor and manufacturing pesticides. free for millions of farmers.
Disaster struck the factory in 1984 when one of the tanks storing the deadly chemical methyl isocyanate broke its concrete cover, releasing 27 tonnes of the toxic gas into the air.
Around 3,500 people were killed immediately, and it is estimated that up to 25,000 died in total. Hundreds of thousands were poisoned, condemned to a future of cancer, stillbirth, miscarriage, lung and heart disease.
Tests of groundwater near the site in the past showed levels of chemicals that cause cancer and birth defects 50 times higher than what is considered safe by the United States Environmental Protection Agency.
Communities blame a range of health problems – including cerebral palsy, hearing and speech impairments and other disabilities – on the accident and groundwater pollution.
The order to clear the garbage was made in December, after the 40th anniversary of the disaster, by the Supreme Court in the state of Madhya Pradesh, which set a deadline of one month.
“Are you waiting for another tragedy?” said Chief Justice Suresh Kumar Kait, according to a report in the Times of India.
