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The Supreme Court on Monday issued notice on a petition challenging Madhya Pradesh High Court's direction for transportation and disposal of 337 metric tonnes of "hazardous chemical waste" from the Bhopal Gas Tragedy site in Bhopal to Pithampur industrial area in Dhar district.
A bench of Justices BR Gavai and AG Masih issued notice to the Centre, Madhya Pradesh government and its pollution control board and postponed the matter for hearing next week. The hazardous waste of around 337 tonnes of the now defunct Union Carbide factory was shifted to Pithampur which is 250 km away from Bhopal and around 30 km from Indore. The Bhopal gas tragedy, touted as the world's worst industrial disaster, had claimed the lives of several thousand people after a deadly gas leaked from the Union Carbide India Limited pesticide plant on the intervening night of December 2 and 3, 1984. The tragedy unfolded in Bhopal, Madhya Pradesh, when the highly dangerous and toxic gas, methyl isocynate (MIC), escaped from the Union Carbide India Limited (UCIL) and resulted in the death of 5,295 human beings, injuries to almost 5,68,292 persons besides loss of livestock and loss of property of almost 5,478 persons. The Madhya Pradesh High Court in December last year reprimanded authorities for not clearing the Union Carbide site and set a four-week deadline to shift the waste. It had observed that 40 years had lapsed since the Bhopal gas tragedy but toxic waste material was still lying at the now-defunct Union Carbide Factory. The High Court had warned the government of contempt proceedings if its directive was not followed. The petition before the apex court said that Pithampur facility is surrounded by habitation of people, who may be exposed to side-effects of gases released while incinerating the toxic waste. It was also mentioned that the Pithampur disposal site is near a river and any contamination thereof can have catastrophic consequences for public health and the ecosystem. (ANI)
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