New Delhi:
The Supreme Court today has asked top secretaries of the Central and Madhya Pradesh government to be present in Court tomorrow to help decide on disposing of 350 tonnes of toxic waste of Bhopal Gas tragedy. Besides them, the secretaries of the Ministry of Environment and Forest (MoEF), Chemical and Petrochemicals and Secretary of the Madhya Pradesh Government (Bhopal Gas Tragedy Rehabilitation) also have to be present.
The court made a strong observation today saying, "Nobody wants to lift the waste and that is the tragedy. People have suffered for all these years. For many years this issue of disposal has been going on. We are not Japan that we will raise few months after Tsunami. Forget that we are judges, we are concerned as human beings. It doesn't take months to decide. We will request everybody and ask the secretaries to sit together and discuss"
Last month the court had directed the Madhya Pradesh government to dispose of the toxic waste of Union Carbide plant at the Pithampur waste disposal plant, 200 Km away from Bhopal by July.
Today, BJP MP and lawyer Ravi Shankar Prasad representing the Madhya Pradesh government asked the court to reconsider that order.
The court told then told Mr Prasad, "We have only seen all the issues through papers. You are a representative of the people. You know things better so please tell us what happened."
The main contention of the state government which Mr Prasad expressed to court was that the Pithampur waste treatment storage and disposal facility (TSDF) in the Dhar districtis is yet to be made operational.
He also said that the disposal would kick up another disaster because if the temperature is not kept in check it could turn into toxic gas.
The Central ministry has wanted Pithampur to be finalised as the spot for the disposal but the state government has been opposing that. This plan to incinerate the Union Carbide Factory's waste at Pithampur has witnessed stiff resistance from the locals too.
So now the court has asked all the concerned secretaries to come to court tomorrow so that a consensus can be reached on how the waste can be disposed.