Vegetable vendor Shivnarayan Dasana has never seen so many police come to his village in the central Indian state of Madhya Pradesh.

The 60-year-old man lives in tarapur Located in the industrial town of Pithampur, famous for its automobile and pharmaceutical factories. The town has been on edge since containers filled with 337 tonnes of toxic waste were revealed at the site of one of the world’s worst industrial disasters Arrival disposal Three weeks ago.

The waste was transported from the now-defunct Union Carbide plant in Bhopal, the site of the 1984 gas tragedy. killed Thousands of people – sparking fear among locals.

They worry that dumping it near their homes could be harmful or even cause an environmental disaster.

Protests erupted on January 3, the day after the garbage arrived in the town, and escalated into stone-throwing and attempted self-immolation.

Since then, heavy police patrols near the disposal facility have marked Tarapur and surrounding areas. Enter the virtual garrison.

Police have registered seven cases against 100 people since the protests began, but townspeople continue to raise concerns about industrial pollution at small community meetings.

The toxic waste removed from the Bhopal plant includes five hazardous substances, including pesticide residues and “forever chemicals” left behind by the manufacturing process. These chemicals are so named because they retain their toxicity indefinitely.

Over decades, these chemicals have seeped into the surrounding environment, causing health hazards to people around the Bhopal plant.

But officials have dismissed concerns that waste disposal is causing environmental problems in Pithampur.

Senior official Swatantra Kumar Singh outlined a staggered process in an attempt to reassure the public.

“If toxicity levels are safe, hazardous waste will be incinerated at 1,200C (2,192F) in 90kg (194.4lb) test batches and then in a 270kg batch over three months,” he said.

Mr Singh explained that “four layers of filtration will purify the smoke”, which will prevent toxins from entering the air, and the residue after incineration will be “sealed with two layers of membrane” and “buried in a dedicated landfill” to prevent soil and groundwater contamination.

Administrator Priyank Mishra said: “We have trained 100 ‘master trainers’ and are conducting courses to explain the disposal process and build public trust.”

Madhya Pradesh Chief Minister Mohan Yadav also defended waste disposal, saying it was both safe and necessary. He urged residents to express their concerns legally, noting that the disposal followed a High Court order.

However, environmental experts have different views on the process.

Subhash C Pandey and others believe that disposal does not pose any risk if done properly. Others, like Shyamala Mani, have called for alternatives to incineration. She believes incineration increases residual slag and releases harmful toxins such as mercury and dioxins.

Ms Mani said bioremediation, a process that uses microorganisms to break down harmful substances in waste, could be a more effective and environmentally friendly solution.

But residents remain skeptical.

“It’s not just waste, it’s poison,” said Gayatri Tiwari, a mother of five in Tarapur village. “If we can’t breathe clean air and drink clean water, What’s the point of life?”

For residents of Pithampur, pollution is an undeniable reality. Residents cited past groundwater contamination and ongoing health concerns as reasons for suspicion.

The town’s rapid industrial growth in the 1980s led to the accumulation of hazardous waste and contamination of water and soil with mercury, arsenic and sulfates. By 2017, the federal agency Central Pollution Control Board flagged the area as severely polluted.

Locals say many companies do not comply with regulations on the disposal of non-hazardous waste, choosing to dump it in soil or water. Tests in 2024 showed elevated levels of harmful substances in the water. Activists have linked this to alleged environmental violations at the disposal facility, but officials deny this.

Pankaj Patel, 32, from Chirakhan village, pointed to the water purifier that needs to be replaced frequently and said: “The water filter in our house lasts only two months. Skin diseases and kidney stones are common now. .Pollution makes life unbearable.”

Srinivas Dwivedi, regional officer of the National Pollution Control Board, dismissed the concerns and said it was “unrealistic” to expect pre-industrial conditions in Pithampur.

Meanwhile, in Bhopal, nearly 230 kilometers (143 miles) from Pithampur, activists believe the process is distracting from larger issues.

Toxic materials have been stored in the mothballed factory for decades since the disaster, contaminating groundwater in surrounding areas.

According to a 2010 report by the National Institute of Environmental Engineering and the National Geophysical Institute, more than 1.1 million tons of contaminated soil remains on the Union Carbide plant site.

Nityanand Jayaraman, a well-known environmental activist, said: “The government is showing how to deal with 337 metric tons of garbage, but it ignores the larger problem of Bhopal.”

Another activist, Rachna Dhingra, added: “Pollution has been getting worse over the years but the government has done nothing to address the problem.”

The government estimates that 3,500 people died soon after the gas leak, and more than 15,000 more died later. Activists claim the death toll is much higher and that victims are still suffering the side effects of the poisoning.

“Given Pithampur’s history of pollution, residents’ concerns are justified,” Mr Jayaraman said.

Officials said they were only “disposing of waste in compliance with court orders.”

But the reality in Bhopal has deepened the distrust among the people of Pithampur, who are now ready to take to the streets again to oppose waste disposal.

Vegetable vendor Shivnarayan Dasana says the problem is not just waste per se.

“This is about our survival and the survival of our children,” he said.

Follow BBC India News Instagram, Youtube, twitter and Facebook.