The 28th anniversary of the world's worst industrial tragedy falls on December 3, but the toxic chemical waste at the Union Carbide plant premises here has not been disposed off and is unlikely to be done soon.
"The Madhya Pradesh government's efforts to dispose off the waste so far has been insufficient. The state government is worried only about the waste in godowns. It is not thinking about the waste lying in the open which poisons drinking water in the affected areas," Bhopal Gas Peedit Mahila Udyog Sangthan's convenor Abdul Jabbar said.
There are about 350 metric tonnes of waste lying in the Union Carbide plant premises and all attempts claimed to have been made by the state government to dispose it have been in vain.
Initially, the Madhya Pradesh government was supposed to dispose off the waste at Ankleshwar in Gujarat and its state government had also agreed to it.
However, the Gujarat government refused to accept the waste after people in Gujarat launched an agitation against it, at a time when elections are around the corner, besides it was also opposed by some voluntary organisations.
After the Gujarat government's refusal, the MP state government had planned to dispose off the waste at Pithampur and 40 metric tonnes of waste was even burnt there. But later, it was claimed that the incinerator at Pithampur was not good enough for disposing off the waste, while BJP leader and former union minister Vikram Verma too led an agitation against the waste disposal. Attempts to get the waste disposed off at Nagpur and Germany too failed.
Since the matter is now pending with the Supreme Court and the Madhya Pradesh government has not given any concrete proposal, it may be quite a while before the waste is finally disposed off.