Tarpura in Madhya Pradesh’s Pithampur is Ground Zero where 12 long-haul containers packed with hazardous waste are parked in a private treatment, storage and disposal facility — waiting to be incinerated. There are policemen stationed across the village. And in one corner, residents in houses that face the site where the containers are parked say that to maintain law and order, they have been barred from going atop their terraces. Even as 337 MT of hazardous waste from the Union Carbide India Limited (UCIL) plant in Bhopal has been moved to Pithampur, the Madhya Pradesh government faces another immediate challenge: convincing local residents that the incineration will be carried out following environmental norms. On January 3, a day after the 12 containers arrived at Pithampur, local residents, shop owners, businessmen, teachers, school students and political workers gathered for a “general strike” against the incineration. With tensions rising, the Dhar district administration has withheld opening of the containers — and launched an information, education and communication outreach. “We will reach out to everyone, from farmers to …