Some 377 tons of hazardous waste from the defunct Union Carbide factory in Bhopal has been sealed and loaded on trucks, ready to be carried off to a disposal site about 250 km away, an official said on Wednesday.

Gas tragedy relief department director Swatantra Kumar Singh assured that the incineration of toxic waste from the Union Carbide plant at Pithampur wo

The highly toxic gas methyl isocyanate leaked factory on the intervening night of December 2-3, 1984, killed 5,479 people and left more than five lakh with health problems and long-term disabilities.

The waste of Bhopal gas tragedy is a stigma which is going to disappear after 40 years. We will dispose it by sending it safely to Pithampur,”

The 377 tonnes of hazardous waste will be disposed of at an incineration site in Pithampur near Indore, around 250 km from Bhopal. Officials said initially some part of the waste will be burnt at the disposal unit of Pithampur.

The work to remove 377 metric tonnes of hazardous waste from the now-defunct Union Carbide factory in Bhopal has got underway ahead of its planned disposal near Indore.