Bhopal Gas Tragedy | SabrangIndia News Related to Human Rights Sat, 04 Dec 2021 11:56:42 +0000 en-US hourly 1 https://wordpress.org/?v=6.2.2 https://sabrangindia.in/wp-content/uploads/2023/06/Favicon_0.png Bhopal Gas Tragedy | SabrangIndia 32 32 Bhopal Gas Tragedy: Workers still carrying the torch for justice https://sabrangindia.in/bhopal-gas-tragedy-workers-still-carrying-torch-justice/ Sat, 04 Dec 2021 11:56:42 +0000 http://localhost/sabrangv4/2021/12/04/bhopal-gas-tragedy-workers-still-carrying-torch-justice/ Workers hold "Mashaal March" to condemn the Madhya Pradesh government for failure to compensate all families of victims

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Bhopal Gas Tragedy

Hundreds of Kundli Industrial Area workers observed a mashaal march on December 3, 2021 from Niftam Chowk in Sonipat Haryana to the Singhu border farmers protest site, as a tribute to the workers who died during the Bhopal Gas tragedy.

Between December 2 and December 3, 1984, over 2,000  people died immediately after a gas leak incident in the Union Carbide India Limited (UCIL) pesticide plant in Bhopal, Madhya Pradesh. The incident is considered among the world’s worst industrial disasters. Even today, many people continue to be affected by the gas, while some families of victims of the tragedy still haven’t received their compensation.

On Friday evening, thousands of laborers from the Labour Rights Organisation marched towards the farmers protest site at the national capital’s border to pay homage to the workers who died at the time.

“Such companies should be condemned. Families are still waiting for their compensation while the gas continues to pollute the area. This needs to be addressed,” said President Shiv Kumar.

Bhopal Gas Tragedy

Bhopal Gas Tragedy

On top of demanding compensation for the victims, he demanded that all companies with poisonous gas and chemicals should be set up outside densely populated areas. Similarly, members decried the exploitation of workers in all industrial areas and oppressive regimes at the hands of the governments, police administration and companies that allowed this abuse to continue.

Labourers condemned contract practice that resulted in their economic and physical exploitation. Further, they asked that company layoffs should be stopped. Instead, they called for minimum wage, worker safety and cancellation of the four anti-labour codes.

Related:

NHRC demands reports from Centre, MP Gov’t over pension for widows of Bhopal Gas victims
36 years on, Bhopal Gas tragedy survivors still await justice
Bhopal Gas Tragedy:Is the already forgotten tragedy of 1984 going to be forever erased from memory?
Bhopal Gas Tragedy, 31 years and counting

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Bhopal Gas Tragedy:Is the already forgotten tragedy of 1984 going to be forever erased from memory? https://sabrangindia.in/bhopal-gas-tragedyis-already-forgotten-tragedy-1984-going-be-forever-erased-memory/ Sat, 12 Oct 2019 11:00:59 +0000 http://localhost/sabrangv4/2019/10/12/bhopal-gas-tragedyis-already-forgotten-tragedy-1984-going-be-forever-erased-memory/ 35 years on will the compensation and sensitivity ever come through? Image Courtesy: pinterest.com Do you know what happened in 1984? A Google search may help, but will it really? The first page of the results will show you only the most talked about incident – the assassination of Indira Gandhi and the anti-Sikh riots […]

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35 years on will the compensation and sensitivity ever come through?

Image result for Bhopal Gas Tragedy:Is the already forgotten tragedy of 1984 going to be forever erased from memory?
Image Courtesy: pinterest.com

Do you know what happened in 1984? A Google search may help, but will it really? The first page of the results will show you only the most talked about incident – the assassination of Indira Gandhi and the anti-Sikh riots that followed. What it doesn’t show you are the photos of more than 10,000 people who died and more than 5 lakh afflicted in Bhopal in the country’s worst industrial disaster.

35 years on Bhopal seems to have been struck with two tragedies – the one that happened immediately and the other that unfolded in the years that followed.

What Happened Then

On the night of December 2, 1984, millions in Bhopal took their last breath when the chemical methyl isocyanate (MIC) spilled out from Union Carbide India Ltd’s (UCIL’s) pesticide factory turning the city into a gas chamber. Vomiting and dying, people ran out on the streets. As the cloud of gas hit the town, people woke from their sleep choking, gasping, and vomiting. Many were immediately affected, their skin burning and lungs failing.The US-based multinational company, Union Carbide Corporation (UCC) which owned the plant through its subsidiary UCIL, did nothing to help alleviate the human tragedy.

35 years later, the people who survived the tragedy and their innocent children are still asking and fighting for justice. And what has been the State’s response to their misery? Nothing but callous.

Even today, the victims and survivors are battling extreme insensitivity and being shortchanged by incoming and outgoing governments. While the ghastly incidents has not only taken a toll on their lives but also on their next of kin’s, the survivors till today are paying the price of what happened that night.

The Victims End Up Paying the Damages

Physical Trauma

Because Union Carbide used trade secrecy to withhold information with regards to the exact composition of the leaked gases, nobody knew about the toxin that leaked out of the factory on the ill-fated night of December 2, 1984. Nobody knew about the antidote either. While over 300 toxic chemicals are said to have been released during the leak, research has been carried out only to check the toxicity of pure MIC.

While a few weeks later, while some claimed that the worst was over – till date nobody knows the impacts of MIC or how to treat patients exposed to it. Furthermore, it is not just the victims present at the site who suffered. It is all those children born after the incident who bore exposure to the deadly gas in their mother’s wombs and people living there today exposed to the chemical wastes dumped in and around the UCIL factory that have contaminated drinking water.

Treatment of patients has only been symptomatic. Even though evidence of people suffering from cyanide poisoning came to the fore and the injections of sodium thiosulphate seemed to have been working, they were stopped, apparently under pressure from UCC and its lawyers.

Uninspired research from the government did not yield much. Independent studies pointed out to serious crises from birth defects to cancer to mental problems.

Over the past five years, the Canadian researcher Shree Mulay and volunteers working with Sambhavana, a nonprofit clinic set up by activists, have been collecting data on mortality, birth defects, fertility, cancer, and many other aspects of people’s health.With about 5,000 families in each group, the study includes 100,000 people in all. Mulay’s team is still analyzing the data, but preliminary results indicate that people exposed to the gas or the water or both have a higher incidence of cancer, tuberculosis, and paralysis than those exposed to neither. They also suggest that gas-exposed people have 10 times the rate of cancer, particularly liver, lung, abdominal, throat, and oral cancers, compared to the other groups.

Yet, the study is still complicated for it is difficult to identify what is due to the general poverty of the entire population and what is specifically due to the gas or contaminated water they’ve been exposed to.

Mental Trauma

The Bhopal Gas Tragedy was the first disaster in India to be studied systematically for mental health effects by the Indian Council of Medical Research (ICMR). Even though the vastness of the disastrous emotional and mental trauma was established within a fortnight of the incident, the involvement of psychiatrists / neurologists did not begin until 8 weeks after the incident as none of the five medical colleges in MP had a psychiatrist on the staff.

The dead may have not been so unlucky after all. Their end, though horrible, had been brief. The survivors though, will never get relief so quickly. Amid convulsions, screams, fainting spells and fear of the dark – men, women and children are left to their resources to fight the ghosts of those memories that keep coming back to haunt them.

Environmental Impact

A 1982 safety audit by US engineers had noted the filthy, neglected condition of the plant, identified 61 hazards, 30 critical, of which 11 were in the dangerous MIC/phosgene units. The audit warned of the danger of a major toxic release.

It’s not just MCI that UCIL was manufacturing. The factory used to manufacture three pesticides: carbaryl (trade name Sevin), aldicarb (trade name Temik) and a formulation of carbaryl and gamma hexachlorocyclohexane (g-HCH) sold under the trade name Sevidol. Till 15 years after the disaster, the factory dumped by-products, process wastes, solvents and polluted water at dump sites outside the plant. In addition to that, there is another 350 tonnes of waste kept at a leaking shed at the site.

In August 2009, a sample of water from the same handpump was analysed by a Greenpeace laboratory in the UK. Carbon tetrachloride was found at 4,880 times the Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) limit.

All of these chemicals take hundreds of years to degrade and even the decontamination and cleaning of the dump site has run into legal wrangles over who should pay for its clearing – the State, Centre, incineration companies or non-profits.

The toxic waste and poisoned water have now become a legacy for the people of Bhopal.

The Culprits that Got Away

Union Carbide, the American chemical company that became infamous for the world’s worst industrial disaster, is now a wholly owned subsidiary of Dow Chemical Company. Warren Anderson, the then CEO of Union Carbide who was declared an absconder and a fugitive lived in anonymity and seclusion in Long Island, New York before his death on September 29, 2014.

Both Dow Chemicals and UCC washed their hands off the disaster. UCC said that it was not subject to jurisdiction of the Indian court as it wasn’t involved in the operation of the plant for it was operated by the Indian arm of the company.


 (Source – Outlook India)

The above document shows how it maintaining future FDI and Indo-US relations took precedence over holding culprits accountable for their actions.

Anderson kept a stoic silence on the issue for more than two decades, avoided social contact and hid from media and activists who have fought tooth and nail to bring him to justice. Warren Anderson did not appear for any of the judicial proceedings conducted by either the District Court, Bhopal or the Supreme Court of India.

Promises – Just Promises

With physical relief came the need of economic rehabilitation and today, three decades after the incident, the government has to still secure Rs 61.72 crore for 3,629 cases which are pending approval. The Centre has still not acted on their request.

In the meantime, the number of eligible survivors who should be compensated has increased – a significant chunk of which have moved the appellate court in Bhopal to hear their appeals. More than 200 new cases of permanent and partial disability have been granted approval for compensation but are still awaiting their payments.

Nearly 50,000 survivors have been compensated since the tragedy in 1984, but around 48,000 claimants are yet to receive their payments.
In 2018, an RTI revealed that The Bhopal Gas Tragedy Relief and Rehabilitation Minister VishwasSarang misused 60 per cent of the funds allocated by the Government of India for the economical rehabilitation and construction of 2,500 homes of the gas victims living in the vicinity of the Union Carbide Factory.

Out of Rs. 272.75 crore allocated by the Ministry of Chemicals and Fertilizers in 2010, only Rs. 129.50 crore was used by the government till 2018. Rs. 85.87 crore was diverted from the remaining Rs. 143. 25 crore to fund different government schemes.

At the time of the incident, UCC settled in 1989 for USD 470 million in damages, with each patient getting 25,000 Indian Rupees (roughly USD 2,200 at the time). RachnaDhingra of International Campaign of Justice in Bhopal, has since been fighting for a higher compensation and to get the site cleaned up, but to no avail. This, even when Dow merged with DuPont in 2017 on a contract of USD 130 billion.

In June, at a review meeting the Centre thought of utilizing the corpus fund of around 891 crores of the Bhopal Memorial Hospital Trust (BMHT). There were also talks of the BMHT being merged with the All India Institute of Medical Sciences (AIIMS), but that too is pending necessary approvals. Till then, all the payments to claimants have been frozen.

The government, which alleviated some public outcry by paying an additional sum of tax-payers’ money to victims and their families in 2010, has now filed what’s known in India as a “curative petition” to the Supreme Court, urging it to reconsider its ruling and compel Union Carbide to pay more. The SC earlier dismissed the curative petition by the government calling for Dow to pay USD 1.2 billion. Activists and survivors are fighting for a figure of close to USD 8 billion keeping in mind the widespread health impacts on thousands in the city.

Activist RachnaDhingra recounted the fine of USD 21 billion paid by Union Carbide over the Deepwater Horizon oil spill. She said that the issue of race played a very important role in this matter. The victims of the Bhopal Gas Tragedy were considered lesser human beings.

In an exclusive byte to Sabrang India, Ms. Dhingra said, “This is just a manifestation of how shoddy and arbitrary the entire compensation process has been for the gas victims. Survivors of the world’s worst industrial disaster have had to fight for their adequate compensation against the very same government whose duty is to protect their interests. Victims are treated as culprits and corporations responsible for the disaster (UCC and Dow Chemical) are given first class treatment in this country.”

Will Bhopal Ever Get Justice?

For pushing political agendas, for treating humans like pawns in a game, for usurping everything what the afflicted deserved and yet leaving them to suffer – will the people of Bhopal ever get justice? Only time will tell.
 
Related
Bhopal Running Away From Bhopal Gas Tragedy?
The Ghosts of Bhopal Gas Tragedy: Death Still Lingers, Who’s Accountable?
Remembering 1984 – The nightmare endures
 
 

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Bhopal Running Away From Bhopal Gas Tragedy? https://sabrangindia.in/bhopal-running-away-bhopal-gas-tragedy/ Mon, 03 Dec 2018 05:35:41 +0000 http://localhost/sabrangv4/2018/12/03/bhopal-running-away-bhopal-gas-tragedy/ Activists have equated the Kareena Kapoor and Tiger Shroff starrer event to dancing on the graves of gas victims, as the date coincides with the Bhopal Gas Tragedy anniversary.     Bhopal: On the 34th anniversary of world’s worst industrial disaster – Bhopal Gas Tragedy – that took place on December 2-3, an event called […]

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Activists have equated the Kareena Kapoor and Tiger Shroff starrer event to dancing on the graves of gas victims, as the date coincides with the Bhopal Gas Tragedy anniversary.

 

bhopal gas tragedy
 
Bhopal: On the 34th anniversary of world’s worst industrial disaster – Bhopal Gas Tragedy – that took place on December 2-3, an event called ‘Run Bhopal Run’ is being orgnaised in the state capital where Bollywood actors Kareena Kapoor and actor Tiger Shroff will be participating.

The tragedy-hit activists, however, have equated the event to dancing on the graves of gas victims, as the date coincides with the anniversary.

They have alleged that Bhopal is running away from the memory of the tragedy by organising ‘Run Bhopal Run’ on its anniversary.

On the intervening night of December 2 and 3, 1984, a leak of methyl Isocyanate gas from the Union Carbide India Ltd’s pesticide plant in Bhopal killed over 10,047 people, and afflicted 5,74,000 people. This is according to a letter dashed off by Chief Minister Shivraj Singh Chouhan to Prime Minister Narendra Modi.

Ever since the incident, these two days are remembered every year with solemn events. The state government holds an all-faith religious meet on the morning of December 3. People remember the tragedy, organise candle march, condolence meetings, protests, and demand rehabilitation of and compensation for the victims along with action against the Union Carbide.

A non-government organisation (NGO) named ‘Bhopal Runners’ – run by the IAS officer and former district magistrate of Bhopal Nishant Warwade – was established it in 2015, which has been organising the ‘Run Bhopal Run’ event.

On December 2, several events and activities such as long and short marathons, music events, Eat Bhopal Eat etc. are being organised.

This is the second edition of ‘Run Bhopal Run’ supported by the state government and Bhopal Municipal Corporation, which would be flagged off on the morning of December 2.

Several organisations and activists, who have been working for the rehabilitation of the Bhopal Gas Tragedy victims, have urged people to boycott it, terming it ‘a shameful event’.They are opposed the selection of the date that coincides with the anniversary of the gas tragedy.
The convener of Bhopal Gas Peedith Mahila Udyog Sanghathan (BGPMUS) Abdul Jabbar Khan said, “Have you heard Kishore Kumar’s song ‘Aag lagi hamri jhopdiya me ham gawe malhar (We sing songs of happiness even as our hut is burning)’?It is just like that.”
“This is extremely insensitive, and is part of a larger plan to forget the pain and continued suffering of Bhopal gas disaster, and its victims. Can there be a celebratory event to coincide with Holocaust Hiroshima Memorial Day?” asked activist, Abdul Jabbar, adding that an NGO backed by the state government is trying phase out the tragedy by organising such events.

Activists working for the survivors of the gas leak are calling on the state government to reschedule the event.

“At the first edition of Run Bhopal Run that took place on December 3, 2017, gas-hit laid themselves in the path of the runners to oppose the event that they equated to dancing on the graves of their dear departed,” said Bhopal Group for Information and Action (BGIA) representative Rachna Dhingra.

She further said when she tried to take on Run Bhopal Run on Twitter, she was subjected to personal criticism. “I have been trying to contact the public relations company of Kareena Kapoor and Tiger Shroff, to inform them about the intention behind this event. I have tweeted to them too,” Dhingra added.

While president of the Bhopal Gas Peedit Mahila Stationery Karmchari Sangh and Goldman Environmental Awardee Rashida Bee said, “When the old city will be mourning the death of their loved ones, the state government is supporting a spectacle with DJ music and Zumba dance in new Bhopal. This shows the abysmal depths of inhumanity in the powers that be.”

She appealed to the participants of Run Bhopal Run to withdraw their registration in solidarity with the Bhopal victims. Organised by volunteer organization Bhopal Runners, the half marathon aimed at promoting a healthy lifestyle, and is supported by the state government.
When contacted, Kareena Kapoor’s public relation team did not respond.

Critics of the event are aghast over usage of words on Bhopal Runners website. “We are not celebrating. We want Bhopal citizens to be fit. Out of the world’s worst industrial disaster we are moving towards a healthier way of life and our aim is to make Bhopal known for its beauty,” said representative Tanmay Jain. He describes the event as an ‘exhilarating event’.

Social activist from the city Ajay Dubey called the event “shameful”. “By organising such event, the NGO is trying to make a mockery of the gas tragedy victims. The victims are still fighting to get drinking water, proper treatment, and some outsider NGO came to the city, and start playing DJ on that day. It is really shameful. We have also protested against the event, and urged district administration to ban it.”

Despite several calls, the president of the NGO ‘Bhopal Runner’ and wife of Indore DM Nishant Warwade, Amita Chand did not respond.

Courtesy: Newsclick.in

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The Ghosts of Bhopal Gas Tragedy: Death Still Lingers, Who’s Accountable? https://sabrangindia.in/ghosts-bhopal-gas-tragedy-death-still-lingers-whos-accountable/ Mon, 12 Nov 2018 05:25:06 +0000 http://localhost/sabrangv4/2018/11/12/ghosts-bhopal-gas-tragedy-death-still-lingers-whos-accountable/ The survivors of the Bhopal gas tragedy and their succeeding generations as well, are struggling with severe health issues. Newsclick talks to them to report on present day trauma of the city. December 2- 3, 1984, poisonous gas leaked from the factory of Union Carbide India Ltd’s pesticide plant in Bhopal and killed over 10,000 […]

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The survivors of the Bhopal gas tragedy and their succeeding generations as well, are struggling with severe health issues. Newsclick talks to them to report on present day trauma of the city.

December 2- 3, 1984, poisonous gas leaked from the factory of Union Carbide India Ltd’s pesticide plant in Bhopal and killed over 10,000 people and affected more 5,50,000 people. The survivors of the industrial incident and their succeeding generations as well, are struggling with severe health issues. There has been no talk about it in the political sphere but during elections, the political parties makes fraud claims to win votes.

Thumbnail Image Courtesy: APN Live

CourtesyL Newsclick.in

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Bhopal Gas Victims Hospital Faces Threat of Closure https://sabrangindia.in/bhopal-gas-victims-hospital-faces-threat-closure/ Tue, 01 Aug 2017 05:49:58 +0000 http://localhost/sabrangv4/2017/08/01/bhopal-gas-victims-hospital-faces-threat-closure/ The institute was started as per the directive of the Supreme Court of India Interview with N D Jayaprakash The institute was started as per the directive of the Supreme Court of India to provide advanced tertiary level super-specialty care to the victims of the Bhopal Gas Tragedy (1984) as well as to extend its […]

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The institute was started as per the directive of the Supreme Court of India

Interview with N D Jayaprakash

The institute was started as per the directive of the Supreme Court of India to provide advanced tertiary level super-specialty care to the victims of the Bhopal Gas Tragedy (1984) as well as to extend its services to the public at large.

Courtesy: Newsclick

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Demanding justice, 31 years later https://sabrangindia.in/demanding-justice-31-years-later/ Wed, 02 Dec 2015 13:49:47 +0000 http://localhost/sabrangv4/2015/12/02/demanding-justice-31-years-later/ Courtesy: AP 31st Anniversary of the Bhopal Gas Leak, December 2, 2015 In the words of the victims and defenders   The tragedy, what actually happened ? The escape of about 40 tonnes of methyl isocyanate (MIC) – a highly toxic chemical – from a storage tank on the premises of the pesticide plant of […]

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Courtesy: AP

31st Anniversary of the Bhopal Gas Leak, December 2, 2015
In the words of the victims and defenders

 
The tragedy, what actually happened ?
The escape of about 40 tonnes of methyl isocyanate (MIC) – a highly toxic chemical – from a storage tank on the premises of the pesticide plant of Union Carbide India Limited (UCIL) in Bhopal – the capital of Madhya Pradesh – on the night of December 2/3, 1984 resulted in disaster of mammoth proportions. Due to culpable criminal negligence manifest in an absence on the part of the plant management in taking adequate safety precautions, water and other impurities – that cause MIC to react violently – entered one of the MIC storage tanks resulting in exothermic reactions and forcing MIC and its reaction products to escape in the form of froth and lethal gases. The escaping poisonous gases, which were heavier than air, spread across 40 square kilometres of the area of Bhopal, covering about 36 of the 56 municipal wards, leaving in its wake more than 20,000 dead (over several years) and inflicting injuries in varying degree on about 550,000 others. About 900,000 persons had inhabited Bhopal then. The pernicious impact on the flora and fauna in the affected area was equally grave. UCIL was then under the control of Union Carbide Corporation (UCC) – a U.S. multi-national company, which is currently wholly owned by the Dow Chemical Company (DOW), USA. 

The struggle for justice and accountability by, with and for the survivors has encompassed issues of medical relief, rehabilitation, compensation, environmental remediation and justice. Over three decades, consecutive governments, state and central have simply rejected legitimate demands for a comprehensive assessment of the ramifications of the disaster to enable just remedial measures. The limited settlement of February 14/15, 1989 was rejected by survivors and rights groups representing them as paltry and a sham. Each gas-victim today, has been finally awarded less than one-fifth of the sum allotted even as per that settlement.

Year 2015 brought little progress during 2015 on the most pressing issues concerning the Bhopal gas-victims. This remains a matter of serious concern. The current status of issues such as health care, enhancement of compensation, rehabilitation, prosecution of the accused, remediation of the environment, etc., may be briefly recounted as follows:         
                                                                                                               
Basic right to health denied
The gross indifference on the part of both the state and central governments to the health needs of the gas-victims continues to be as grim as ever. Apart from the fact that a fairly large health-infrastructure has been built in terms of buildings and number of hospital beds due to the pressure exerted over the years by organizations supporting the cause of the Bhopal gas victims, the quality of health care in terms of investigation, diagnosis,  treatment, research and record-keeping continues to be abysmal. The persistent apathy of the Indian Council of Medical Research (ICMR) and the government of Madhya Pradesh in monitoring the health status of the Bhopal gas victims has been shocking.

Bhopal gas disaster survivors do not have the simple benefit of proper medical records (of each person) and even a health-booklet each to enable monitoring and treatment. Despite the showcase hospital infrastructure, clinics with computerization this simple and organised basic right remains unfulfilled.

The limited settlement of February 14/15, 1989 was rejected by survivors and rights groups representing them as paltry and a sham. Each gas-victim today, has been finally awarded less than one-fifth of the sum allotted even as per that settlement.

No proper protocol for treatment of each gas-related ailment has been evolved even 31 years after the disaster reflecting the chronic callousness and apathy of concerned authorities. Mere symptomatic treatment, over-medication due to lack of proper monitoring, and dispensing of sub-standard and spurious drugs has resulted in increasing number of renal failures among the gas-victims. Bhopal-disaster-related medical research, which the ICMR had thoughtlessly discontinued in 1994 and which the ICMR was compelled to revive in 2010, is yet to be pursued with the necessary vigour. The fact is that neither the ICMR nor the state government has any idea of the number of gas-victims suffering under each category of disease arising from respiratory, ophthalmic, gastro-intestinal, neurological, psychiatric, and other problems.

What is equally shocking is that even 31 years after the disaster, most of the gas-victims seeking treatment continue to be classed as suffering from ‘temporary injury’ in order to deny them compensation for permanent injury.    
         
Legal Accountability
It was because of this utter insensitivity on the part of the union of India and the state of Madhya Pradesh that BGPMUS, the Bhopal Group for Information & Action (BGIA) and BGPSSS (as petitioners numbers one, two and three) had filed a writ petition (number 50 of 1998) before the Supreme Court on January 14, 1998. The petitioners pleaded for restarting of disaster-related medical research, monitoring & recording the health status of each gas-victim, improvement in health care facilities, appropriate protocol for treatment of each disaster-related ailment, etc. Fourteen years after the onset of the litigation, and after several interim directions, the Supreme Court finally issued a comprehensive directive on August 9, 2012 acceding to the above prayers of the petitioners. Necessary directions were issued to the union of India, the state of MP and to other concerned institutions in this regard. The petitioners were further directed to pursue the matter before the high court of Madhya Pradesh (MP) – writ petition number 15658 of 2012– a task that BGPMUS & BGPSSS are actively engaged in at present.

Governments defy SC directives
Shockingly, even 39 months after the Supreme Court had passed the said order dated August 9, 2012, neither the central nor the state government(s) has taken the necessary steps to comply fully with all the directions of the Court. What is most appalling and disheartening is that even 31 years after the disaster, proper health records of the gas-victims are not being maintained and, although claims are being made to the contrary, the fact is that gas-victims do not have a hard copy of his/her complete medical record in his/her possession.

It is because of this failure of the respondents to comply with the said order of the Supreme Court dated August 9, 2012, BGPMUS & BGPSSS were compelled to file a contempt petition (No.832 of 2015) on May 15,2015 against the concerned officials of the government of India and Madhya Pradesh and allied institutions such as ICMR, NIREH and BMHRC.

Chronology of the contempt petition
May 15,2015     contempt petition against concerned officials of the government of India and Madhya Pradesh and allied institutions such as ICMR, NIREH and BMHRC filed by BGPMUS & BGPSSS

October 27, 2015      contempt petition admitted, notice issued, petitioners asked to filed rejoinder

September 16, 2015   the chief secretary, government of MP, and the secretary, Bhopal Gas Tragedy Relief & Rehabilitation Department (BGTRRD), who are respondent numbers 3 & 4, had already filed their reply

November 30, 2015 since, the responses in the Reply filed by the said Respondents were mostly false and misleading, petitioner no.2; BGIA filed an application under article 266 of the Constitution urging the high court to take suo motu action against respondent nos.3 & 4 under sections 191 and 193 of the Indian Penal Code (IPC) for committing perjury. The application has been admitted. The next date for hearing is January 12, 2016

The persistent apathy of the Indian Council of Medical Research (ICMR) and the government of Madhya Pradesh in monitoring the health status of the Bhopal gas victims has been shocking.
 
Illegal Drug Trials
In 2008, a shocking discovery came to light. The illegal manner in which secret drug trials were being conducted on gas-victims at BMHRC in the period between 2004-2008. Following the exposure, authorities at BMHRC have been making every effort to shield the culprits. BGPMUS & BGPSSS have sought a detailed inquiry into this unsavory incident of using the gas-victims as guinea pigs and have demanded stringent action against the guilty. To legally pursue the matter, BGPMUS & BGPSSS have become interveners in writ petition (C) No.33 of 2012, which was filed to oppose unregulated drug trials in the country, especially by multinational drug companies, and it is currently pending before the Supreme Court.  

Compensation
Twenty-one years after the unjust Bhopal Settlement of February 14/15 1989, the union of India had decided to file a curative petition [curative petition (civil) number 345-347 of 2010] before the Supreme Court on December 3, 2010. This followed a huge public campaign and public outcry (even by the electronic media that has been fairly silent since). This petition challenged the terms of the settlement on grounds that it underestimated figures of both the dead and injured. The UOI has sought enhancement of compensation by an additional Rs.7728 crores over the 1989 settlement amount that was merely about Rs.705 crores. The petition has been admitted but has not yet been taken up for hearing, five years down.

There are significant points of difference in the two interventions. The BGPMUS and BGPSSS do support the UOI’s curative petition especially with regards the total casualty figure (i.e., 5,73,586 victims, including dead and injured) and on the modalities for enhancing compensation (i.e., that it should be based on the dollar-rupee exchange rate that prevailed at the time of the settlement). However, BGPMUS and BGPSSS have serious differences with the central government’s stand on the number of dead (just 5295 according to the curative petition) and the seriously injured (only 4944). The two survivors and human rights organizations also oppose the centre’s paltry claims for relief and rehabilitation and for environmental remediation.

Well documented figures by these organizations (BGPMUS and BGPSSS) put the dead at 20,000+ and seriously injured at 150,000+. These are also the figures (explained in detail) in the special leave petition (SLP No.12893 of 2010) currently pending and which will be heard only after the disposal of UOI’s Curative Petition.  It is to remedy the attempts at dilution of the tragedy both in terms of numbers dead and gravity of the fallout that the organizations concerned have on October 24, 2013 filed an interlocutory application in the centre’s curative petition pointing out the serious inadequacies.

The centre’s conduct, when examined in detail, gets more and more murky. No attempts were made to place the relevant ICMR reports before the claim courts to enable them to fairly assess the types and gravity of injuries suffered by the Bhopal gas victims. In the absence of proper health booklets, which the ICMR and the state government had failed to provide to each gas-victim, circumstantial evidence would have been very valuable in determining the likely degree of injury suffered by a gas-victim.

On all these serious issues, this 31st anniversary of the tragedy, the organizations and Survivors make a collective plea that the curative petition, pending before the Supreme Court for the last five years, should be heard without delay. Before this, the health booklet with his/ her complete medical record should be issued to each gas-victim. Without this, the victim survivors would not be able to access fair compensation that is awarded in terms of the category and degree of injury that can be seen from the individual health record. Today the victims simply do not have the empirical means to prove the extent of injury and the category it falls under.

Hence, the computerisation of health records and coordination between the records contained in various hospitals and clinics treating gas-victims before providing each gas-victim with his/her complete medical records is an immediate need.

Environmental Remediation
Toxic waste that was generated during UCIL’s operation from 1969 to 1984 was dumped in and around the plant leading to severe soil and water contamination. A comprehensive study to estimate the extent and gravity of the damage has not yet been carried out by either the centre or the state government, though thirty one years have passed. Instead, the magnitude of the problem has been grossly underestimated by making it appear that the total toxic waste that needs to be safely disposed of is only about 345 tonnes that is stored at the plant site.

This issue has also been agitated before the Supreme Court both independently in the SLP as also in the intervention in the curative petition.

Survivor organizations have argued that the current proposal to incinerate/bury the toxic waste near Indore is wholly misconceived and it would only result in shifting the problem from Bhopal to Indore. On the contrary, in a preliminary study that was jointly carried out by the National Environmental Engineering Research Institute (NEERI), Nagpur, and the National Geophysical Research Institute (NGRI), Hyderabad, during 2009-2010, it was estimated that “the total quantum of contaminated soil requiring remediation amounts to 11,00,000 MT [metric tonnes](p.68). Since the Government of India has submitted that the private incinerator at Pitampur (Indore) has been suitably upgraded to prevent any toxic emission, the Supreme Court has permitted test-incineration of toxic waste currently stored at the Bhopal plant. The results of the tests are awaited.

Bhopal gas disaster survivors do not have the simple benefit of proper medical records (of each person) and even a health-booklet each to enable monitoring and treatment.

Based on the “Polluter Pays Principle”, it is the duty and responsibility of the Dow Chemical Company, USA, which currently owns UCC, to meet the cost of remediating comprehensively the affected environment in and around the UCIL plant with the latest available remediation technology. Similarly, the cost of providing safe-drinking water to the affected population residing in and around the former UCIL plant too has to be borne by DOW. However, the responsibility for providing safe drinking water to the affected population is entirely that of the state government. However, the state government is yet to fulfill that responsibility since supply of safe-drinking water to the affected areas is still very erratic. Moreover, the victims of contaminated water have still not been made eligible for free medical treatment.         
                                                   
Remediation of the estimated 11,00,000 MT of contaminated soil is a far more difficult task. At the initiative of the Centre for Science and Environment (CSE), Delhi, a preliminary attempt was made in April 2013 to bring together on a common platform the various stakeholders (including BGPMUS & BGPSSS) and experts to prepare an Action Plan to remediate the degraded environment. While a draft Action Plan has been worked out, it requires further refinement as well as inputs from other experts and stakeholders, including the government of Madhya Pradesh. The stoic indifference of the state government to this daunting task is alarming. In situ decontamination of the toxic waste (including the contaminated soil & groundwater) using closed-loop remediation technologies is a possibility. With inputs and technical help from UN Environment Programme, cleaning up of the contaminated site in Bhopal is quite feasible. However, the entire costs for the cleanup should be ultimately borne by Dow Chemicals.

Relief and rehabilitation                                                                                       
The State Government has failed to address adequately and with sensitivity a host of socio-economic problems that confronts the chronically sick, the elderly, the differently abled, the widowed, and other vulnerable sections among the gas-victims. The pittance, which was disbursed as compensation in most instances to these sections was never enough to take care of their daily needs. Finding gainful employment in accordance with the reduced capacity to work and to lead a dignified life has been a serious challenge. The state government needs to give far more attention and provide far larger support to the most vulnerable sections of gas-victims than in the past. 

On the 31st anniversary of this man-made-disaster, the Bhopal Gas Peedith Mahila Udyog Sanghathan (BGPMUS) and the Bhopal Gas Peedith Sangharsh Sahayog Samiti (BGPSSS) pay their homage to the deceased victims and reiterate their determination to continue to uphold the cause of the survivors and to seek justice for the hapless victims.

 (This article has been prepared based on the detailed press release by Abdul Jabbar and ND Jayaprakash of the BGPMUS and BGPSSS respectively. They can be contacted at jabbar.bhopal@gmail.com / jaypdsf@gmail.com)

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