Authorities in India have removed hundreds of tons of toxic waste from an Indian chemical plant that witnessed one of the world’s deadliest gas leaks 40 years ago.
In December, the court set a deadline of four weeks for waste disposal.
On Wednesday, the toxic waste – about 337 tons – was taken from the Union Carbide plant in the central Indian city of Bhopal to an incinerator about 230 km (143 miles) away.
It takes between three and nine months to process and destroy the waste.
Thousands of people died in December 1984, a toxic gas leaked from the factory after inhalation.
Since then, the toxic material has been lying in the closed factory, polluting the groundwater in the surrounding areas.
The toxic waste removed from the factory this week included five types of hazardous materials – including pesticide residues and “forever chemicals” left over from the manufacturing process. These chemicals get their name because they retain their toxic properties indefinitely.
For decades, these chemicals at the location of the abandoned factory slowly seeped into the surrounding environment, creating a constant danger to the health of people living in nearby areas.
A 2018 study by the Indian Institute of Toxicological Research found that high concentrations of metals and chemicals had contaminated groundwater in 42 residential areas near the plant.
After a decade of inaction, the Madhya Pradesh State High Court on December 3 set a four-week deadline for authorities to remove toxic waste material from the site.
The court said the authorities “are still in a state of inertia despite 40 years”.
The process of moving the waste began on Sunday when officials began packing it in leak-proof bags. These bags were then loaded into 12 sealed trucks on Wednesday.
Officials said the waste was transported under strict security measures.
The convoy of trucks carrying the waste included a police escort, ambulances, fire brigades and a rapid response team, the Indian Express newspaper reported.
Swatantra Kumar Singh, head of the Bhopal gas disaster relief and rehabilitation department, told news agency PTI that initially some of the waste would be burnt at a disposal unit in Pithampur and the rest would be tested for toxic residues.
He said that special arrangements have been made to ensure that the fumes from the incinerator or the ashes left behind do not pollute the air and water.
However, activists and people living near the landfill protested against the move.
They said a small amount of waste from the Carbide plant was destroyed at the plant on a trial basis in 2015, Hindustan Times reported.
It ended up polluting the soil, groundwater, as well as fresh water in nearby villages, they said.
But Mr Singh denied the claims.
He said the burning of toxic waste would not have “any negative impact” on nearby villages.
Over the years, officials have made several attempts to dispose of the waste from the Bhopal plant, but abandoned their plans after facing resistance from activists.
In 2015, India’s pollution control board said toxic waste would be incinerated in Gujarat, but the plan was scrapped after protests.
The committee later also identified sites in the states of Hyderabad and Maharashtra, but faced similar resistance.
The Bhopal gas tragedy is one of the world’s biggest industrial disasters.
According to government estimates, about 3,500 people died in the days after the gas leak, and more than 15,000 in the years afterward.
But activists say the number of dead is much higher. Victims still suffer from the side effects of poisoning today.
In 2010, an Indian court convicted seven former plant managers, handing them small fines and short prison terms. But many victims and activists say justice has still not been served, given the scale of the tragedy.
Union Carbide was an American company that Dow Chemicals bought in 1999.
