The Supreme Court Monday expressed anguish over the "political tussle" over disposing Bhopal toxic waste even after 28 years of the tragedy that claimed more than 15,000 lives, terming it as the "worst stigma on the entire nation" and noted the governments could not care less since those affected were poor. A Bench of Justices G S Singhvi and H L Gokhale, ordering time-bound trial burning of waste similar to Bhopal waste in Pithampur facility in Madhya Pradesh, minced no words in reproaching the Centre and the state government for their political considerations taking precedence as generations kept suffering. "We would like to record that neither the state nor the Centre is interested in disposal of waste. There is plenty to suffer for children only because they are born in Bhopal. These children perhaps belong to a different God. It is the worst type of stigma on the entire country since 28 years have elapsed and waste is yet to be disposed of," observed the Bench. Pointing out that the law bends for the rich in this country, it said: "We don't want to comment upon how the Union Carbide factory came up in a thickly populated area. We also don't want to talk about the responsible gentleman getting away. But we think it is all forgettable since people involved were poor. Perhaps the poor are born in this country with different tags on their heads." "We think it has been reduced into a matter of political battle. There are two different parties at the Centre and in the state and so they don't agree with each other over anything. The tussle is absolutely political," the Bench remarked. The court also passed a slew of directives over transportation of similar toxic waste from Hindustan Insecticide Limited in Cochin to Pithampur for trial burning of 10 tonnes of waste in order to ascertain technical facility of the plant in the state. The state had earlier urged the Bench to dismiss a recommendation to use the Pithampur facility for trial burning of the Bhopal waste, claiming the Central Pollution Control Board had not carried out the test with similar hazardous waste despite a specific mandate in the Group of Ministers meeting. On Friday, the Centre and state agreed on the test incineration with the waste from HIL, Cochin, and the Bench ordered the Ministry of Environment to fetch the requisite waste from there "without delay". The court fixed the matter for May 8 after the Centre submitted that they expected the test incineration to be completed by first week of May.