The Persisting Peril of Bhopal’ s UCC Toxic Waste!
Even after 41 years of the world’ s worst ever‘ industrial disaster’ created by Union Carbide Corporation at its Bhopal plant on the intervening night of December 2, 3 in 1984, killing more than 5,000 people instantly and many more subsequently besides disabling people with chronic ailments having serious irremediable effects on generations of people including the subsequently born, by releasing poisonous gas Methyl Iso Cyanate( MIC) in to the atmosphere, the toxic waste is lying in the premises of UCC plant at Bhopal remaining as a perpetual menace to the environment as well as to the life and people living in the vicinity of the UCC plant, around more than 20 kms.
But a paltry amount of 337 tons of the toxic waste was removed from UCC plant, by the state government plant at Pithampur and incinerated which started in January 2025 and continued for 6 months.
Despite Supreme Court, Madhya Pradesh High Court, Central Pollution Control board ordering the removal of toxic waste, it took more than four decades for the state government even to remove such a small amount of toxic waste from UCC plant’ s premises and incinerate at the Treatment, Storage, and Disposal Facility( TSDF) in Pithampur, more than 200 kms away. This incineration plant is located near the Gambhir River, a source of Yaswant Sagar Dam which supplies drinking water to at least 40 % of Indore, and the possibilities of the dam getting polluted due to the waste disposal. Moreover, the waste management plant of Pithampur is situated in village Tarapur not only polluted the soil and water of the Tarapur village but also polluted the adjacent villages, which are causing health issues in the villages. December-2025
Even this removal of toxic waste was taken up not because of Supreme Court and High Court orders but due to the various agitations conducted by victims of families, survivors and activists.
But still the UCC factory premises contains around 11 lakh tons of contaminated soil, one ton of Mercury and nearly 150 tons of underground dumps. This toxic waste is yet to be excavated, removed and remediated. Many studies including of the government found ground water in different residential areas outside the factory contaminated with heavy metals and other toxic substances which could lead to cancer and other diseases. Experts warn that there are chances of contamination spreading further. According to the report of National Green Tribunal( NGT), the toxic chemical waste of UCC plant accumulated in its premises leachates and further contaminates the surface water, underground water and in the rainy season flows to other places and water of the river bodies are also contaminated. The root cause of the problem is in the solid, semi-solid, liquid and tarry wastes generated during the manufacture of pesticides and associated chemicals which were dumped by UCC between 1969 and 1984 within the factory premises. NGT in 2022 appointed a committee which said“ there was a possibility of contamination of soil” and suggested speedy disposal of the waste, citing the serious unsatisfactory state of affairs and the apathy and failure of the authorities.
The survivors of the disaster are suffering lack of specialists in medicine to attend to their chronic ailments in the local hospitals.
The toxic waste presently incinerated thus has yielded more than 800 tons( out of 367 tons of toxic waste) as residue, that had to be disposed in the land fill with protection to contain leachates. The US environmental protection( EPA), said that these protections can degrade and need to be reinstalled at periodic intervals, which is doubtful to expect from the apathetic governments of both BJP, and Congress, which all these four decades are neglecting the health and lives of Bhopal victims of UCCIL’ s disaster.
Now both of these parties are engaged in a war of words after the incineration after 40 years, BJP blaming Congress had“ distributed death” during“ 1984 Bhopal gas tragedy” terming toxic waste as“ Congress garbage” while Congress blames BJP had given“ Cancer” to future generations, claiming that“ cancer-causing elements” would be found in the ground water in the areas around the facility in Pithampur.
Thus, both the ruling parties have conveniently chosen to protect the actual culprit of the Bhopal gas disaster- the“ DOW Chemical Company”. In the factory premises of UCIL, there still remains several more tons of contaminated soil and other hazardous artefacts plus contaminated subsurface in the area. They thus absolve the Dow Company from its legal liabilities and moral responsibilities facilitating immunity to the“ rogue” Dow company which arrogantly refuses to fulfill its legal and moral responsibilities, with the active support of its Indian comprador bourgeoise like Tatas.
This is a clear-cut and undeniable proof the FDI would not only devastates its recipient country economically but also encroaches and steals the sovereignty of the country. This is nothing but‘ imperialism’ in its disguise that loots the wealth and labour of the entire world.
Taking the example of UCC’ s industrial disaster at �
17