BHOPAL GAS TRAGEDY: 39 years after the city of lakes overflew with dead bodies

[Yeh zabra bhi dekha hai Tarikh ki Nazron ne lamhon ne khata ki thi sadiyon ne sazaa payi] History has been a witness to the injustices where faults made in moments have made generations suffer.

The aforementioned lines of Muzaffar Ramzi pop-up in our minds every year on December 3rd as it was on this day that the gas that seeped away from a plant in Bhopal killed thousands and …. possibly impaired generations.

The city of Bhopal was sleeping snugly inside the duvets when a tank at Union Carbide Limited's factory began spewing tonnes of Methyl isocyanate into the atmosphere. The tank contained 42 tonnes of gas against the rule of a maximum of 30 tonnes. A large amount of water had entered the tank in an attempt to unclog it. The water triggered a chemical reaction in the malfunctioning water tank, which raised the temperature to 200 degrees centigrade and spiked the pressure, the leak had been detected on the intervening night of Dec 2 and 3 1984. It took a few hours for the authorities to sound alert. But it was very late as the lethal Methyl isocyanate escaped into the atmosphere through the chimneys.

GAS-PING FOR BREATH

The people in the vicinity of the factory were awoken by the gas. They were coughing and some also felt irritation in their eyes. The homes were subsumed by the cloud of the gas used in the production of pesticides. The streets were full of people running to escape and, in the process, choking to death.

Dr. N.R. Bhandari the then Medical Superintendent of the government-owned HamidiaHospital  recalls in his book "25 years of Bhopal Gas Tragedy  " When I got a call at unusual hours I was told that people are having problems in their eyes due to some gas, I thought it is ammonia but later when the staff at Union Carbide told that it is MIC- methyl isocyanate, I was confused because till then I had not heard the name and we had no antidote for that."

The gas is highly toxic and can kill a person instantaneously as it affects the lungs. It is also deleterious for animals and vegetation.

By the morning of December 3, 1984 thousands of people and hundreds of animals had succumbed to asphyxiation as the gas enveloped the city.

The Agony Lingers on

Around 8,000 suffocate to death within a week and an equal number of people died in the subsequent years. The deadly gas bears its mark on the deformed births happening even today.

The Inadequate compensation

Economic relief was started in 1985, when the government decided to pay Rs 200 as a Widow pension. The government also decided to pay Rs 1,500 to families having a monthly income less than Rs 500.

According to Bhopal Gas Tragedy Relief and Rehabilitation Department, compensation had been awarded to 554,895 people till October 2003, it included the injured and the families of those killed. 

On June 2010, the Government of India approved a package of RS 12,662 crores as an aid package to be funded by the Indian taxpayers through the government. But the number of beneficiaries of this package was pegged to 42,000, against the 5.75 lakh victims of the disaster.

The Guiltywent off the hook

Despite glaring lapses, no one was held guilty for the tragedy of such a mammoth proportion. In June 2010, seven Indian nationals who were UCIL (Union Carbide India Limited)  employees in 1984, were convicted of causing death by negligence but were released immediately after the verdict.

 Warren Anderson, the CEO at the time of Union Carbide Corporation(the parent company of UCIL)  was allowed to flee outside India. Later in 1992, he was declared a fugitive by the Chief Judicial Magistrate of Bhopal on 1^st February 1992 for failing to appear in a culpable homicide case. The United States dismissed the plea to extradite him citing a lack of evidence.

However, a UCC spokesperson shrugged off the responsibility of the human blunder by asserting that at the time of the incident, the plant was operated by Union Carbide India Limited.

Anderson remained in the United States and died unpunished in 2014.

The Agony Persisting Through Generations

The tragedy which visited upon the city 38 years ago continues to ripple through the lives of the families of those affected. Children are still born with congenital disabilities due to the exposure of their parents to gas leakage.   Every year in December a protest is held at Jantar Mantar demanding adequate compensation.

 On Saturday, December 3^rd the victims and their families gathered at Jantar Mantar demanding adequate compensation and accused Dow Jones (The owner of Union Carbide since 2001) of delaying the compensation.