Rewind - Bhopal Gas Tragedy

Written By- Rahul Bansal

Bhopal Gas Tragedy: On the night of 3^rd December, 1984 the biggest industrial disaster in the corporate history struck at Union Carbide plant in Bhopal, Madhya Pradesh. A deadly poisonous gas Methyl Iso-cyanate (MIC) leaked from a tank in the production premises of Union Carbide India Limited (UBIL), Union Carbide being among the biggest producers of chemical products in the world at that time. According to govt. estimates 3000 died that night, others saying the toll to be above 8000 and more than 20,000 died since due to diseases and ailments caused by MIC and 1, 70,000 severely affected. The area around the plant was densely populated and the moon was full, thousands died in their sleeps and many were trampled in the panic.

At that time, the plant was making losses due to declined demand and the management of the company had ordered to reduce the “unnecessary” expenditures. This meant that the plant was sacrificing on many of the safety precautions taken when handling such volatile and dangerous gases as was MIC. Kamal Pareek, former assistant manager of safety at Bhopal plant had resigned in 1982 following this as the company was not ready to listen to his requests of not cutting the safety nets. SEVIN, a carbaryl pesticide, was being produced using MIC instead of less dangerous but more expensive substitutes and was stored in underground tank No.610 at that plant. At around midnight between 2^nd and 3^rd December, around 27 tons of MIC with 61 other hazardous gases escaped from the tank and because all the safety features to contain the escaping gases including a chimney to burn all the gases were dysfunctional or removed due to ‘cost constraints’, the gas quickly started spreading in the air towards the nearby villages with a population of more than 5,00,000.

The emergency alarm bells to warn the people was not activated because “it would have caused panic and stampede in the villages” according to the company officials, but what has happened without warning the people, when they were given no chance of escape, where many died in their sleep due to cardiac arrest and suffocation, the company didn’t want to explain.

The then CEO and chairman of Union Carbide, Warren Anderson was in India at the time of the event. The police arrested him and soon released him within 24 hours without giving any rational reason, soon after which he flew outside India. Subsequent efforts to bring him back proved futile.

The Indian government passed a legislation which made it a legal representative of the victims in the US courts. The government moved to the US court demanding $3.3 billion for the victims in compensation but it settled for $417 million in 1989 which comes roughly to $500 per victim. But when the victims appealed in Indian courts against the order as no one was held guilty and too little a compensation, the Indian court issued summons to the company to which the company openly refused to respond.

In 2001, the Union Carbide was taken over by DOW Chemicals (third largest chemical company in the world in terms of market capitalization) which refused to take over the Bhopal Disaster liabilities, stating that it were not part of their purchase. The Union Carbide India Ltd. was not in their purchase agreement which was taken over by B.M. Khaitan group, renamed as Eveready Industries Ltd., the same companies whose AA batteries we use in toys and remote sets. The Union Carbide has totally refused to take over the responsibility to even clean up the mess it has left behind, including the thousands of tons of hazardous chemicals still left unclaimed in the plant. Till today, not even at the time of the tragedy had the company provided with any information about the exact gases and their quantity which had escaped the plant, nor the methods by which its harmful effects can be contained and people could be saved. They just went away. The official company stand is that “it was an external sabotage” but who is the culprit it can’t say.

"We are not expendable. We are not flowers offered at the altar of profit and power. We are dancing flames committed to conquering darkness and to challenging those who threaten the planet and the magic and mystery of life."
-- Rashida Bee, Bhopal gas leak survivor

On 3^rd December,2009 it will be the 25^th year since that tragedy had struck. But till now the victims are waiting for compensation, for some genuine medical help, waiting that the deadly effects of the gases will wear out, hoping that their next generation will be without any ailments or cancer, waiting for someone to come forward to help them. And god knows that their wait is long.

Compassion wherever there is suffering, Conviction that the compassion is strong enough to eliminate suffering, Courage to make this conviction a reality. This is AID.