5 days before HC deadline, Union Carbide toxic material unloaded from trucks

Bhopal: The secure containers containing over 350 tonnes of toxic waste from the Union Carbide factory were finally unloaded from the trucks at the treatment-storage-disposal-facility (TSDF) in the industrial town of Pithampur in the Dhar district on Thursday, 43 days after they had been transferred from Bhopal.

“The process of unloading the containers from the trucks took around 4 hours at the TSDF in Pithampur. Process of unloading the containers was carried out in the presence of local public representatives, media personnel and experts, including officials of the pollution control board,” a senior official said.

Members of the Pithampur Bachao Samiti, which has been driving protests, remained away from the TSDF despite being invited to attend the unloading of the containers at the facility, where waste will be incinerated under the MP High Court's order.

“Entire process of unloading the containers from the trucks which was followed by the departure of the emptied trucks has been video filmed,” the official added, TNIE reported.

The unloading occurred barely one day after the Shav Satyagraha protest. For 12 minutes, protestors lay on the ground like corpses at the TSDF in Pithampur. They have been booked for organising the protest without prior approval from the local administration-police.

According to the local authorities' findings, the state government will file a status report with the MP High Court on February 18. Aside from details on the unloading of the 12 containers at the TSDF, the status report will include a series of dedicated Information, Education, and Communication (IEC) activities carried out by the government in Dhar, Pithampur, and Indore to dispel public misconceptions about the planned incineration of toxic waste at the Pithampur TSDF.