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Union Carbide waste disposal: Supreme Court issues notice to Centre, MP

A bench of Justices B R Gavai and A G Masih agreed to hear next week the plea which claimed the direction to dispose of the waste in Pithampur involves “significant public health and environmental risks”.

bhopal gas tragedy, bhopal gas tragedy Bhopal

Workers of Re Sustainability at work repacking gathering the hazardous waste. (Express Photo)

The Supreme Court on Monday issued notice to the Centre and Madhya Pradesh government on a plea challenging a High Court order to shift “hazardous” chemical waste from the defunct Union Carbide factory, the site of the 1984 Bhopal Gas tragedy, to Pithampur in the state.

A bench of Justices B R Gavai and A G Masih agreed to hear next week the plea which claimed the direction to dispose of the waste in Pithampur involves “significant public health and environmental risks”.

Hearing a PIL, the Madhya Pradesh HC on December 3, 2024 set a four-week deadline to dispose of the toxic waste material. The HC pulled up the state government over the lack of progress in disposing of 337 metric tonnes of toxic waste, observing that the authorities were “still in a state of inertia after 40 years”.

Read | Incinerating Union Carbide’s ghosts: 337 tonnes of waste, 40 workers & a 250-km journey

The appeal challenging this said that citizens in Pithampur and Indore are up in arms against the move as there was no discussion with them. It also said the state government had not issued any clarification on the safety of the people residing in the vicinity.

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