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The second round of trial incineration of 10 tonnes of Union Carbide waste linked to the 1984 Bhopal Gas Tragedy commenced on Thursday in Madhya Pradesh.
Shrinivas Dwivedi, the Regional Officer of the Madhya Pradesh Pollution Control Board, provided details about the ongoing process. "The trial for the second phase is going to start. The display board has been set up," he said. The disposal plan aims to manage 10 tonnes of hazardous waste, which will be incinerated at a rate of 180 kilograms per hour. According to Dwivedi, this phase will take approximately 55 to 56 hours to complete. The first trial of the incineration was held on February 28 at a waste disposal factory in Pithampur in Madhya Pradesh's Dhar district, amidst tight security, with 10 tonnes of waste incinerated at the rate of 135 kg per hour. Subsequently, in the third phase, 270 kg waste per hour is set to be disposed of. Indore Divisional Commissioner, Deepak Singh told ANI, "The process of waste disposal of the Bhopal's Union Carbide factory that has been brought to Pithampur has been started today. All the monitoring taking place is according to the criteria. There is no problem and we are continuously looking after the situation. All the information related to pollution is available in the public domain, and if you check the website of the Pollution Control Board, you will see the criteria under which the release of gases is being done." He further added that the first phase of the trial run would be concluded within three days after that the second phase would begin and then the third phase. The result of all the three phases of the trial run will be sent to the Central Pollution Control Board (CPCB) for evaluation. The CPCB will suggest on which speed rate the remaining waste should be disposed of. Thereafter, all the results of the trial run and the CPCB guidelines will be presented before the court on March 27. Four decades after the tragic incident, 'Bhopal gas tragedy', a total of 337 metric tons of toxic waste materials from the Union Carbide factory site were shifted to Ramky company located in Pithampur, Dhar district for disposal on the night of January 1. But due to fear among the public and protests staged by them, incineration of the waste was not initiated. Following the directions of the Court, the management of Union Carbide's hazardous waste started. The Bhopal gas tragedy, considered the world's worst industrial disaster, occurred on the night of December 2-3, 1984, when deadly gas leaked from the Union Carbide India Limited pesticide plant, claiming thousands of lives. (ANI)
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