The top court has sought responses from the Centre, Madhya Pradesh and its pollution control board. 377 tonnes of waste from the now defunct Union Carbide factory was shifted to Pithampur industrial area in Dhar district, 250 km away from Bhopal, recently. The petition said at least four-five villages lie within the one km radius from the disposal site, saying the life and health of the residents are at \”extreme risk\” It also pointed out that the Gambhir river flows besides the facility and caters waters to the Yashwant Sagar Dam, which supplies drinking water of 40 per cent of Indore’s population. On the night of December 2-3, 1984, highly toxic gas methyl isocyanate leaked from the Union Carbides factory, causing one of the worst-ever industrial disasters in the world. It killed 5,479 people and maimed more than five lakh others. The Supreme Court set a four-week deadline to shift the waste, observing that even 40 years after the gas tragedy, authorities were in a \”state of inertia\”
