Urgent Appeal Against Hazardous Waste Disposal Plan

A PIL was filed in the Indore bench of the Madhya Pradesh High Court challenging the planned disposal of toxic waste from the Union Carbide factory. The petition highlights potential environmental and health risks and urges for immediate judicial intervention to halt the operation.

A Public Interest Litigation (PIL) has been filed with the Indore bench of the Madhya Pradesh High Court, seeking a halt on the planned disposal of 337 metric tonnes of toxic waste from the defunct Union Carbide factory in Bhopal to a site in Dhar.

The catastrophic accident on the night of December 2-3, 1984, involved the deadly leakage of methyl isocyanate gas, resulting in over 5,479 deaths and affecting over five lakh individuals, marking it as the world's worst industrial disaster.

Petitioners, including Dr Sanjay Londhe and oncologists S S Nair and Vineeta Kothari, are demanding an urgent hearing, arguing that the disposal poses severe risks to health and the environment. They believe local bodies have not been adequately consulted, and a proper government hospital is absent in the industrial area of Pithampur.