UCC Waste Outcry Leads To Merger Of Pollution Control Board Offices

Bhopal (Madhya Pradesh): In response to public protests over transportation of 337 MT of hazardous waste from Union Carbide Corporation (UCC) in Bhopal to REEL in Pithampur, the Madhya Pradesh Pollution Control Board (MPPCB) has merged its Dhar regional office with the Indore office.

The sub-regional office of Pithampur has also been integrated into the Indore setup. The hazardous waste, which includes chemical waste from UCC, is being incinerated at REEL, Pithampur, which falls under Dhar district. The decision to merge the offices comes after growing opposition from people over the disposal process.

Sandeep Raghuvanshi, a resident of Pithampur, said, “Due to protests over disposal of UCC chemical waste at REEL, the MPPCB office has been merged with the Indore setup. Both the Dhar regional office and the Pithampur sub-regional office have been shifted to Indore. At the same time, the district administration is engaging with the public through Jan-Samvad as a confidence-building measure, while protests continue in Pithampur.”

MPPCB Regional Officer for Indore region, SN Dwivedi, confirmed the merger and told Free Press that the Dhar regional office, which previously covered Pithampur along with Jhabua and Alirajpur, has now been combined with the Indore office.

He assured that online monitoring would be conducted during the incineration process of the UCC chemical waste, stating, “Our team will continue to work on-site, and everything is being managed through an online, computerised system, which led to the decision for merging the regional office and sub-regional office.”