Officials say toxic incineration is safe for the environment as activists blame it for water pollution.
Officials in India say they have moved hundreds of tons of hazardous waste left over more than 40 years after the worst industrial accident in the city of Bhopal.
Waste from the site a 1984 disasterwhich killed more than 25,000 people and left at least half a million people with serious health problems, has been sent to a landfill where it will take three to nine months to burn, officials said Thursday.
Early on December 3, 1984, methyl isocyanate gas leaked from an American Union Carbide Corporation pesticide plant, killing more than half a million people in Bhopal, the capital of the Indian state of Madhya Pradesh.
More than 40 years later, on Thursday morning, trucks hauled 337 tons of the poison to a landfill in Madhya Pradesh's industrial town of Pithampur, 230km (142 miles) from Bhopal.
Swatantra Kumar Singh, director of the Bhopal Gas Tragedy Relief and Rehabilitation Department, told Reuters news agency that the waste should be disposed of in a safe manner that would not harm the environment.
The federal pollution control agency conducted a test to dispose of waste in 2015 with 10 tons of toxins, and found that the amount of air that comes out is in line with the national standards, the government of the state said.
However, activists say the solid waste can be buried in landfills after burning, contaminating water and causing environmental problems.
“Why polluter Union Carbide and Dow Chemical not being forced to clean up its toxic waste in Bhopal? asked Rachna Dhingra, a Bhopal-based activist who has worked with disaster survivors.
Contamination of ground water
Built in 1969, the Union Carbide factory, now owned by Dow Chemical, was seen as a symbol of India's industrial growth, creating thousands of jobs for the poor and producing cheap pesticides for millions of farmers.
Disaster struck the factory in 1984 when one of the tanks storing the deadly chemical methyl isocyanate broke through its concrete vault, releasing 27 tons of the poisonous gas into the air.
About 3,500 people were killed immediately, and about 25,000 are said to have died in total. Hundreds of thousands were poisoned, condemned to a fate of cancer, stillbirth, miscarriage, lung and heart disease.
Groundwater tests near the site previously showed levels of carcinogens and birth defects 50 times higher than what the United States Environmental Protection Agency recognizes as safe.
Communities criticize different people health problems – including cerebral palsy, hearing and speech and other disabilities – on accidents and pollution of ground water.
The order to remove the debris was made in December, following the 40th anniversary of the disaster, by the high court in the state of Madhya Pradesh, which was implemented for a month.
“Are you waiting for another disaster?” said Chief Justice Suresh Kumar Kait, according to a report by The Times of India.