Remembering the 1984 Bhopal Gas Tragedy
1984 Bhopal Gas Tragedy. Why must we never forget the night between December 2 and 3, 1984? Because on that night saw the world’s worst industrial disaster. It was the night of the Bhopal Gas Tragedy. Methyl isocyanate and other toxic gasses leaked over Bhopal city from a pesticide factory owned by Union Carbide. More than 3,500 people were killed in the immediate aftermath of the leak.16,000 more died in the following years. Neonatal deaths went up by 200% and stillbirths increased by 300%. Thousands of children were born with birth defects after the tragedy.
One lakh people are chronically ill because of this gas disaster.
Yet, justice eludes these affected people.The Government of India, which was supposed to initially fight cases, demanded $2.2 billion.
In 1989, it got only $470 million or Rs 750 crore (exchange rate that year). 6 lakh people, including families of the 16,000 deceased, got compensation. This amounted to an average of Rs 15,000 per person. Warrants against Warren Anderson chairman of Union Carbide were never honoured. US refused to extradite him. He died in 2014. There has been no effort to clean up the contaminated site. Dow Chemicals, which bought Union Carbide in 2001, has refused to do anything. In the process, the groundwater has been severely contaminated.
Colonies around the site access ground water for drinking and cooking.
What is the solution?
Will these people ever get justice?