The Supreme Court on Thursday refused to interfere
with the Madhya Pradesh High Court order on shifting toxic waste from the 1984
Bhopal gas tragedy and disposing it in Pithampur area of Madhya Pradesh's Dhar
district.
A bench of Justices B R Gavai and A G Masih also
refused to stay Thursday's trial run of disposal of the waste from the Union
Carbide India Ltd plant. It noted that experts from NEERI, NGRI and CPCB have
given their views on the issues, which were considered by the high court as
well as the expert panel.
The bench asked aggrieved parties, including civil
society members, to approach the high court which is seized of the matter.
On February 25, the top court asked authorities to
apprise it about the precautions taken to dispose the waste. Around 377 tonnes
of hazardous waste from the now defunct Union Carbide factory was shifted to
Pithampur industrial area, about 250 km away from Bhopal and 30 km from Indore,
for disposal at a plant.
Highly toxic gas methyl isocyanate (MIC) leaked from
the Union Carbide factory during the intervening night of December 2-3, 1984,
killing 5,479 people and maiming more than five lakh. It is considered to be
among the worst industrial disasters in the world.