Some protesters attempted self-immolation against the disposal of toxic waste from Bhopal gas tragedy site by transporting it to Pithampur
Witnesses said that during demonstrations against the removal of dangerous waste materials from the site of the Bhopal Gas catastrophe to Pithampur in the Dhar district for disposal on Friday, some protesters tried self-immolation, resulting in two burn burns.
On the night of January 1, the poisonous waste materials from the Union Carbide production site in Bhopal were moved to Pithampur for safe disposal, after forty years of the “Bhopal gas tragedy,” which is regarded as the greatest industrial disaster in the world.
On the intervening night of December 2 and 3, 1984, a fatal gas leak from the Union Carbide India Limited pesticide facility caused the Bhopal gas catastrophe, which killed thousands of people.
Rajkumar Raghuvanshi, one of the wounded, spoke to ANI, saying, “I have done this (self immolation) against the toxic waste brought here.”
The demonstrators were demanding that the containers containing the hazardous trash from Pithampur be returned.
Following the event, several of the protesters were moved and taken to the hospital by the on-scene police. Earlier, the police dispersed the protesting mob with a minor lathi charge as well.
“People are currently protesting because of the waste materials at the Pithampur bus stand, and we are trying to convince them that the process (incineration of waste) is being done scientifically,” said Pithampur SDM Vivek Gurjar. The whole procedure will be carried out scientifically and under close observation. I urge everyone to keep the peace and work with the government.
Earlier, one of the demonstrators, Sandeep Raghuvanshi, a social worker, insisted that they only make one request of the state government: that the hazardous waste containers be returned from Pithampur.
“The people is angry, and the local government is misleading higher-ups about it by saying there wasn’t any outrage. The state administration has made us a single request: that the hazardous waste containers be returned from Pithampur. “Until the twelve containers of waste that were brought from Bhopal were returned from here,” Raghuvanshi informed the reporters, “my strike would continue.”
In addition, residents protested the burning of Pithampur’s hazardous garbage by calling for a “Band” and closing their businesses.
“The shop was shut down because the 40-year-old toxic waste from Bhopal was brought here to Pithampur for disposal,” a local merchant informed the journalists. Here, we shall not allow the rubbish to be burned. We stand with the Pithampur people. We have chosen to register our protest by voluntarily closing our stores to safeguard our citizens. We request that the authorities refrain from burning this rubbish in Pithampur.
Madhya Pradesh Chief Minister Mohan Yadav made it clear on Thursday that there will be no environmental effects from rubbish disposal.
“The residents of Bhopal have had to put up with this trash for the last 40 years. This poisonous waste was disposed of by a number of Government of India organizations. The 10 MT garbage was previously burned at Pithampur as a test run in 2015, and the Supreme Court was shown the report that was created with scientists present. According to the analysis, there is no environmental effect associated with the disposal of hazardous waste. Following a thorough review of the findings, the MP High Court ordered that the remaining hazardous trash be burned, according to the CM.
He went on to say that the state administration made an effort to proceed by bringing everyone together and transparently giving facts to them. He had given cabinet member Kailash Vijayvargiya instructions to meet with local leaders in Dhar and explain the situation in a transparent manner.
