Toxic waste from deadly leak fuels protests in India

Vegetable seller Shivnarayan Dasana has never seen so many police arrive at his village in the central Indian state of Madhya Pradesh.

The 60-year-old man lives in Tarapur in the industrial city of Pithampur, known for its automobile and pharmaceutical factories. The city has been tense since containers containing 337 tonnes of toxic waste arrived from the site of one of the world’s worst industrial disasters. arrived for disposal three weeks ago.

The waste, transported from the now defunct Union Carbide factory in the city of Bhopal, site of the 1984 gas tragedy that delicate thousands, has raised fears among locals.

They worry that getting rid of them near their homes could be harmful and even cause an environmental disaster.

Protests broke out on January 3, a day after the waste arrived in the city, and led to stone throwing and attempted self-immolation.

Since then, intense police patrols near the disposal center have turned Tarapur and surrounding areas into in a virtual garrison.

Police have registered seven cases against 100 people since the protests began, but townspeople continue to express concerns about industrial pollution at smaller community meetings.

The toxic waste removed from the Bhopal factory included five types of hazardous materials, including pesticide residues and “permanent chemicals” left over from its manufacturing process. These chemicals are so named because they retain their toxic properties indefinitely.

Over the decades, these chemicals have leaked into the surrounding environment, creating a health hazard for people living around the Bhopal factory.

But officials dismiss fears that waste disposal will cause environmental problems in Pithampur.

Senior Swatantra official Kumar Singh outlined the phased process in an attempt to reassure the public.

“Hazardous waste will be incinerated at 1,200°C (2,192°F), with 90kg (194.4lb) test batches followed by 270kg batches for three months if toxicity levels are safe,” it said.

Singh explained that a “four-layer filter will purify the smoke,” preventing toxins from entering the air, and that waste from incineration will be “sealed in a two-layer membrane” and “buried in a specialized landfill” to Prevent soil and groundwater pollution.

“We have trained 100 ‘master trainers’ and are organizing sessions to explain the elimination process and build public confidence,” said administrator Priyank Mishra.

Madhya Pradesh Chief Minister Mohan Yadav also defended waste disposal, calling it safe and necessary. He urged residents to express their concerns legally, pointing out that the removal was carried out only after orders from the high court.

However, environmental experts have different opinions on the process.

Some, like Subhash C Pandey, believe that removal poses no risk if done correctly. Others, like Shyamala Mani, call for alternatives to cremation. It maintains that incineration increases residual slag and releases harmful toxins such as mercury and dioxins.

Mani suggests that bioremediation, a process that uses microorganisms to break down harmful substances in waste, could be a more effective and environmentally friendly solution.

But residents remain skeptical.

“It’s not just waste. It’s poison,” said Gayatri Tiwari, a mother of five in Tarapur village. “What’s the point of life if we can’t breathe clean air or drink clean water?”

Pollution is an undeniable reality for the residents of Pithampur. Residents cite past groundwater contamination and current health problems as reasons for skepticism.

The city’s rapid industrial growth in the 1980s led to the accumulation of hazardous waste and contamination of water and soil with mercury, arsenic, and sulfates. In 2017, the federal agency’s Central Pollution Control Office noted severe pollution in the area.

Locals allege that many companies do not follow the rules for disposing of non-hazardous waste and choose to dump it on the ground or in water. Tests carried out in 2024 showed an increase in harmful substances in the water. Activists link this to alleged environmental violations at the disposal facility, but officials have denied this.

“The water filters in our homes do not last two months. Skin diseases and kidney stones are common now. Pollution has made life unbearable,” said Pankaj Patel, 32, from Chirakhan village, pointing out your water purifier, which needs to be replaced frequently.

Srinivas Dwivedi, regional official of the State Pollution Control Board, dismissed the concerns and said it is “unrealistic” to expect pre-industrial conditions in Pithampur.

Meanwhile, in Bhopal, nearly 230 kilometers (143 miles) from Pithampur, activists argue that the removal process is a distraction from much more important issues.

Since the disaster, the toxic material remained in the idle factory for decades, contaminating groundwater in surrounding areas.

More than 1.1 million tons of contaminated soil remain at the Union Carbide factory site, according to a 2010 report by the National Environmental Engineering Research Institute and the National Geophysical Research Institute.

“The government is making a spectacle of disposing of 337 metric tons while ignoring the much larger problem in Bhopal,” said Nityanand Jayaraman, a prominent environmentalist.

“Pollution has worsened over the years, but the government has done little to address it,” added Rachna Dhingra, another activist.

Government estimates say 3,500 people died shortly after the gas leak and more than 15,000 died later. Activists claim that the number of victims is much higher and that victims are still suffering from the side effects of the poisoning.

“Given Pithampur’s history of pollution, residents’ fears are valid,” Jayaraman said.

Officials said they only “deal with waste as specified by the court directive.”

But the reality of Bhopal has deepened distrust among the residents of Pithampur, who are now willing to take to the streets again to oppose waste disposal.

Vegetable seller Shivnarayan Dasana said the problem goes beyond the waste itself.

“It’s about survival, ours and our children’s,” he said.

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