Carbide waste: Residents, PCB lock horns again over emissions in Madhya Pradesh | Indore News

INDORE: Pithampur Bachao Samiti – an organisation of residents that opposes the plan to dispose of 1984 Gas Tragedy waste at a plant in their township – alleged on Friday that MP pollution control board was “misleading the govt, courts and people” by hiding after-effects of the incineration.
MPPCB refuted the allegation, and said that the waste disposal was being carried out on high court directions and under close supervision. Environmental parameters were within standard limits, it said in a release.
The Samiti held a press meet in Indore, 30km from Pithampur, to claim that local residents have started facing health issues, like irritation of the eyes and nose after the test incineration. They demand that the second trial incineration, which started on Thursday, be stopped.
MPPCB hid facts, showed partial data in an attempt to establish that the incineration of Union Carbide waste was safe. It is misleading the govt, courts and people,” Samiti president Hemant Kumar Hirole alleged, claiming that all the test reports are not being made public.
“The board failed to give details of dioxins and furans. It has not shown how mercury is being disposed of, or whether India has the technology for mercury stabilization,” Hirole said.
The Samiti alleged that after the first round of incineration of 10MT waste at 135kg/hr, residents of nearby villages like Tarpura have started experiencing health issues. “The district hospital is flooded with people with irritation in eyes and nasal tract, cough and dry mouth,” Hirole alleged.
Indore divisional commissioner Deepak Singh said that during the trial disposal of the chemical waste, the health department examined health parameters of people living around the incineration facility, and all their test reports have been found to be normal.
MPPCB countered the Samiti’s allegations in a press release, saying that the reports will be tabled before high court, so it’s wrong to say that any parameters were hidden.
The board said that samples for dioxins and furans have been sent to laboratories and it will take at least 15 days for the reports to be generated. Mercury levels were tested according to “standardized norms”, and it was “baseless” to say that such technology was not available in India, it said.
PCB has consistently maintained that during the trial, all emission levels were within standard limits, and the state has allayed fears of any adverse impact on health of local residents.
“During the incineration of hazardous waste, continuous monitoring of the emission and ambient air quality was carried out by around 20 officers / employees of Central Pollution Control Board and MP PCB,” the release said,
The ‘Online Continuous Emission Monitoring System’ (OCEMS) was operational all through and it showed that emissions from the incinerator – particulate matter (PM), sulphur dioxide, nitrogen oxide, carbon monoxide, hydrogen chloride, hydrogen fluoride and total organic carbon – were within prescribed standard limits, the board said.
The Samiti, however, said it will move the high court with “fresh facts” and seek to stop the incineration of waste in Pithampur. “The govt submitted undertakings by 11 Pithampur residents in HC, claiming that they were convinced with the safety and had no objection to the incineration. Ten of these people have submitted affidavits with us, saying that they were not consulted,” Hirole said.