Jabalpur, March 13 The Madhya Pradesh High Court on Friday gave the state government five weeks to submit a plan for assessing and remediating contaminated soil and groundwater in and around the defunct Union Carbide factory in Bhopal.
At least 5,479 people were killed and thousands were maimed after highly toxic methyl isocyanate gas leaked from the Union Carbide's pesticide factory in Bhopal during the night of December 2-3, 1984.
A division bench of Justices VK Singh and AK Nirankari took note of an affidavit filed by the state government, seeking more time to submit the plan.
In its affidavit, the state government said a meeting was held on March 3 with the Additional Chief Secretary of Health and other officials to invite organizations capable of carrying out such assessment and remediation.
During this meeting, discussions took place on various issues, including the assessment of remediation of contaminated soil and groundwater, detoxification and decontamination of the corroded structure of the Union Carbide plant, and time-bound remediation of the site.
A decision was made to initiate the process and issue a short tender for these works from the list of "reference organizations" prepared by the Central Pollution Control Board under the Environment Protection (Management of Contaminated Sites) Rules 2025, the state government said.
The court is hearing a series of petitions aimed at making the area pollution-free.
Rachna Dhingra of the NGO Bhopal Group for Information and Action, who attended the hearing, told