The hazardous chemical waste that was lying at the 1984 Bhopal gas
tragedy Union Carbide factory site, which witnessed the deadly MIC gas leak in
December 1984, including pesticide residue has been disposed of through
incineration at a facility in Pithampur. The incineration process had begun with a trial run of 10 tonnes of incineration
of the waste in February 2025 and this was part of a larger effort to safely
dispose of the 377 tons of chemical toxic waste from the industrial disaster
site in Bhopal. The waste was transported from the defunct Union Carbide factory in Bhopal
to the TSDF (Treatment, Storage, and Disposal Facility) in Pithampur. After
four decades on the orders of the Madhya Pradesh High Court, the toxic waste was
transported - in twelve trucks -
from the Union Carbide factory site in Bhopal to the incineration site in Pithampur,
amid heavy security. The waste was lying at the site for 40 years after the
tragedy that claimed the lives of more than 5,000 people and injured many more
for life.
Most of the media - newspapers
carried out the news of the finality of the incineration of the chemical toxic
waste - including raising some questions on its environmental impact. However,
sadly, there was not even a single report or media coverage which recalled a
forgotten episode of Operation Faith, a scientific endeavour carried out by dedicated
scientists, that saved many lives. Through this article I wish to recall
Operation Faith and the contributions of the scientists who worked fearlessly,
not caring for the safety of their lives, to study the accident site and diffuse
a possible second leak which was waiting to happen.
With the final lot of the
toxic waste incineration completed, a sad chapter in the world’s largest
industrial catastrophe, the Bhopal Gas Disaster, ended on 3 July at the TDSF in
Pithampur of MP’s Dhār district. The last consignment of 19 tonnes of toxic waste-laden soil and 2.22
tonnes of packaging material, the remaining part of the 358 tonnes of toxic
waste was completed on 3 July. It may be recalled that 377 tonnes of toxic
waste was transported from UCIL Factory site in Bhopal to Pithampur in January
2025, on the orders of the Madhya Pradesh High Court. The incineration of the
waste was carried out in phases from January onwards under the watch of pollution
control board experts monitored by the Madhya Pradesh High Court, with the last
phase coming to an end early this month.
The enormity of the
Bhopal gas tragedy can be fathomed from the global media headlines that this
tragedy received. India Today front-paged this tragic incident covering it
under the caption “City of Death” in their December 1984 issue. Time
magazine titled their cover story “India’s Disaster—The Night of Death” in
their December 14, 1984, issue. Incidentally, the Wall Street Journal, which
is now in the news for its insensitive reporting of the Air India flight disaster
that killed 262 people, was at its insensitive worst reportage of the Bhopal Gas
tragedy. Reporting this worst global industrial disaster caused by the
negligence of the Union Carbide management, a US company, The WSJ wrote “of those people killed, half would not have
been alive today if it weren’t for that plant and the modern health standards
made possible by wide use of pesticides.” Revealing its insensitivity to the
thousands of people who had lost their lives.
It was past midnight on
December 2, 1984, that nearly 30 of the 42 metric tonnes of Methyl Isocyanate
(MIC), stored in one of the tanks - Tank E610 - of the UCIL Pesticide Plant, leaked
and escaped into the atmosphere with great velocity. This deadly cloud of MIC
gas took a heavy toll on the lives and livelihood of people in the area. Even
today, the exact human death toll from the Bhopal gas tragedy is not known.
However, it is estimated that more than 5000 people died within a few days of
the gas leakage. Many more thousands of people were injured and maimed for life
impacted by this tragedy, caused due to gross negligence of Union Carbide India
Limited (UCIL). Finally, after 40 plus years of this human tragedy, the entire toxic
waste from the UCIL site has finally been incinerated bringing about a symbolic
closure to this unforgettable disaster.
The story of the Bhopal Gas
tragedy will remain incomplete without remembering “Operation Faith’ under which,
a group of scientists showed exemplary courage and commitment and put to use
their scientific acumen to prevent a possible second catastrophe which was
waiting to unfold had there not been a timely intervention by the group, who
risked their lives to save the situation. Unfortunately,
this extraordinary story of the bravery of the scientists from the Council of
Scientific and Industrial Research (CSIR), led by the visionary Dr. S.
Varadarajan, under “Operation Faith”, is less known or almost completely
forgotten.
When Science Stood Up to
Fear
Not many youngsters today
are aware of the Bhopal Gas tragedy and even less people know about Operation
Faith. This operation was launched immediately after the disaster that
unfolded with MIC leak in Bhopal in December 1984. The focus was shifted to
managing the remaining MIC stored in the other tanks. "Operation
Faith" was the name given to this mission after its completion and it
involved the process of converting the stored MIC in other tanks into a
pesticide, a process that involved safe transferring the MIC to a different
part of the plant and safeguarding it from leakage.
This mission was led by Dr
Varadarajan, who in consultation with eminent chemist, Prof M M Sharma, put
together a team of 16 members - consisting of chemical engineers and related
experts, Dr. L.K. Doraiswamy, N.R Ayyangar, C.S.P Iyer, A .A Khan, A.K. Lahiri,
K.V. Muzamdar, R.A Mashelkar, R.B Mitra , O.G.B Nambiar, V.Ramachandran, V.D
Sahasrabuddhe, S. Sivaram, M. Sriram, G. Thyagarajan and R.S. Venkataraman – to
address this complicated issue.
The deadly MIC gas leak
from the UCIL factory in Bhopal had created a havoc and in such tragic and
dangerous circumstances there was not much support on the ground for the team. The
Operation Faith team, therefore, had to work risking their lives at site. The
first decision Dr Varadarajan took immediately on landing in Bhopal, was to physically
inspect the site to study the residues still left in tank 610 from where the
gas had leaked. During their inspection the team learnt about the imminent
danger of the second tank E 611, which had around 40 tonnes of MIC stored in
it, similar to the storage that tank E610 had. The team also realised that
there was another tank, which too had MIC and posed a risk of leakage.
Site inspection not only
helped the team to understand what may have gone wrong that led to the leakage
of MIC from E610 tank, but they also realised that tank, E611, with a similar
amount of MIC 40 tonnes, stored in it, lay ticking like a chemical time bomb. There
was every chance that tank E 611 might undergo same runaway reaction as 610 from
which deadly MIC had leaked. Dr Varadarajan and his team examined the residues
still left in tank 610 to get an idea of what all could have happened to the
MIC in tank 610 and why it leaked.
Once they fairly assessed
the reasons for the leakage of the MIC, they set about engineering a mechanism
to safely dispose the remaining MIC from tank 610 and take precautionary
measures to safeguard leakage from 611, and finally try and dispose the MIC gas
from that tank. There was another question that needed to be answered: what
were the effects of the toxic MIC gas on the people around. How and why did the
MIC cause death and damage, and how can such damage be countered or avoided. They
shared their knowledge of the MIC and its impact with the health workers.
The team carefully
studied the situation at ground and at lightning speed comprehended the
chemistry and storage conditions of the MIC in the two tanks and thoughtfully provided
engineering solution to mitigate leakage from tank E 611. They realised that MIC boils at 80°C but
evaporates at lower temperature. This showed that MIC gas is best stored under
refrigerated conditions - below 10°C. Shockingly, this was not done at the
factory by UCIL – cost cutting measures perhaps. They also realised that
ultrapure MIC can be inert and that trace impurities can set up a chain
reaction and one of them can produce a solid polymer. This solid
polymer could clog up pipes through which MIC can be transferred from the
storage tank. They adopted a process of converting 21 tons of MIC from tank 611
into a chemical called Sevin, at the rate of 3-4 tons daily. They commenced
this operation on Sunday, December 16th, 1984 and ended six days later. This
scientifically and technically validated operation carried out under Operation
Faith saved what would definitely have led to a ‘Bhopal 2 tragedy'.
A
Legacy Worth Remembering
As India formally closes
the Bhopal Gas tragedy chapter after four decades, it is time for us to
remember not only the villains, whose gross negligence led to this manmade
disaster and learn lesson from this disaster, but also let us remember its
heroes of Operation Faith - the scientists who walked into the danger zone when
the ones who were responsible fled. They believed that truth, knowledge, and science
could protect lives.
Science doesn’t just
build rockets or invent vaccines. Sometimes, it walks into a poisoned factory,
under threat of death, and quietly save people and the city.
Jai
Vigyan.
The outstanding efforts
of the team under “Operation Faith” has been documented in the exhaustive CSIR
Report on Scientific Studies Related to Bhopal Toxic Gas Leakage (1985), which
was submitted to Parliament. This report can now be accessed here: https://bhopalgasdisaster.wordpress.com/wp-content/uploads/2014/12/csir-report-on-scientific-studies-december-1985.pdf
No comments:
Post a Comment