Bhopal Gas Tragedy: MP High Court Directs State To Urgently Examine Issue Of Shifting Containment Site Of Toxic Residue Away From Inhabited Areas
The Madhya Pradesh High Court, on Thursday (July 31), directed the State Government to expeditiously examine the issue of shifting the containment site of toxic residue away from the habitable zone, in the least seizermic zone anywhere in the state, to ensure that any accidental leakage would not adversely affect groundwater sources, humans, animals or the environment. These observations...
The Madhya Pradesh High Court, on Thursday (July 31), directed the State Government to expeditiously examine the issue of shifting the containment site of toxic residue away from the habitable zone, in the least seizermic zone anywhere in the state, to ensure that any accidental leakage would not adversely affect groundwater sources, humans, animals or the environment.
These observations were made in a public interest litigation, originally filed in 2004, highlighting the government's continued inaction in cleaning up the contaminated area surrounding the Union Carbide, the site of the 1984 gas tragedy.
The bench of Justice Atul Sreedharan and Justice Anurada Shukla observed;
"As it is undisputed that the residue from the incineration process is also toxic and needs to be contained for almost 30-40 years, this Court directs the State to expeditiously examine the issue of shifting the containment site from habitation to a place, anywhere in the State, which is in least seismic zone and far away from habitation so that even if there is an accidental leaking/leaching of the residue into the ground water sources, human, animal life and the environment are not affected adversely".
In the previous hearing, the court had constituted an Expert Committee and directed the concerned representative to appear before the bench. In compliance, the officials from the Central Pollution Control Board, CSIR- National Environmental Engineering Research Institute and MP Pollution Control Board appeared before the court.
The experts had informed the court regarding the toxicity of the 'ash which is the residue of the incineration process of waste material from the UCIL Factory', which cannot be disposed of or exposed to the environment. They further informed the court regarding an underground 'state-of-the-art' facility, which will be developed to contain the said ash.
However, the bench noted that 'as of now, the same containment facility is 500 meters away from habitation, as stated by the experts, and 50 meters, as stated by the petitioners'.
During the hearing held on March 27, the state government informed the court that toxic waste generated by the now-defunct Factory could be disposed of in a period of 72 days by incinerating at the Pithampur facility.
The state government, had previously, submitted an affidavit regarding the success of trial runs to dispose of the 30 metric tons of waste. It was also submitted that the remaining waste could be disposed of under the supervision of the Central Pollution Control Board and the State Pollution Control Board, at an optimum speed of 270 kg per hour.
The court further listed the matter for August 14, 2025.
Case Title: Alok Pratap Singh v Union of India (WP-2802-2004)
For Petitioner: Senior Advocate Naman Nagrath with Advocate K.N. Fakhruddin
For Union and State: Deputy Solicitor General Shrikrishna Sharma and Additional Advocate General H.S. Ruprah
For MP Pollution Board: Advocate Vikram Johri
For Intervenor: Advocates Rahul Diwaker and N.D. Jayprakash
For BGIM: Senior Advocate Avi Singh with Advocates Shreyas Dharmadhikari and Teerthesh Bharilya
For Respondents no 4 and 6: Senior Advocates Kishor Shrivastava and Ajay Gupta with Shiraz Patodia, Divya Sharma, Kumar Thakre, Ashish Singh and Rajeev Mishra