It's thirty years, as of date, since the Bhopal gas tragedy had taken place.
The tragedy.
At 2330h on 02 Dec '84, the workers at the Union Carbide fertilizer plant in Bhopal complained about a burning sensation in the eyes and suffocation due to gas leaking from a pressurised tank containing deadly methyl isocyanate(MIC). At 0030h on 03 Dec, the alarm siren was sounded and water spraying was resorted to. At 0300h, the safety valve collapsed and the tank exploded, releasing about 40,000 kg cloud of lethal gases and a gentle breeze blew this cloud of death over sleeping people in 36 wards of the city of Bhopal!
The run up to the tragedy.
MIC needs to be maintained below 5 degrees Celsius under pressure. But the refrigeration system had been shut down since Jun '84; the tank and the valves were defective. Temperatures seemed to have risen to 350 degrees Celsius in the tank and the highly reactive gas had decomposed and created a deadly cocktail of poisonous gases that were released into the atmosphere when the tank had exploded!
The consequences.
Death and injury came without warning to the sleeping population. Symptoms ranged from suffocation, blindness and vomiting to spontaneous abortions, lung, kidney, liver and brain damage. Over 20,000 people were estimated to have been killed and over 5 lakhs injured! Cattle and birds died in the surrounding areas, dead fish floated in the lakes and even trees lost their leaves!!
And 30 years later, justice still seems to elude the poor victims! Consider these:-
* Warren Anderson, the then chairman of Union Carbide, was arrested on arrival at Bhopal.
He was given bail within 6 hrs, flown to Delhi in a state government aircraft and he flies out
of Delhi, never to return. He died on 29 Sep, this year, in the US.
* The Supreme Court of India okays the settlement signed by the Union Government and
Carbide. Accordingly, Carbide was to pay Rs.705 crores(470 million $) as compensation
and all civil, criminal charges were dropped! This had happened in '89!!
* Partial payment of the compensation was made by the Carbide in '94.
* Union Carbide bought by the Dow Chemical Company in 2001.
* In 2004, the Supreme Court accepts that the actual number of gas victims was 5.73 lakhs and
not 1 lakh as assumed in '89. Victims file for increase in compensation.
* In 2010, a petition was filed by the Union government to change the 1989 settlement
and increase compensation.
Tailpiece.
(a) Is the lethargy in settlement due to the fact that the people affected are poor people and aren't influential enough? Does the foreign company think that the Indian lives are too cheap?
(b) There's a family connection to this incident. My younger brother-in-law was doing his post graduation in Bhopal but was lucky to have been away from the epicenter! And no, he wasn't
related to us then!!
The tragedy.
At 2330h on 02 Dec '84, the workers at the Union Carbide fertilizer plant in Bhopal complained about a burning sensation in the eyes and suffocation due to gas leaking from a pressurised tank containing deadly methyl isocyanate(MIC). At 0030h on 03 Dec, the alarm siren was sounded and water spraying was resorted to. At 0300h, the safety valve collapsed and the tank exploded, releasing about 40,000 kg cloud of lethal gases and a gentle breeze blew this cloud of death over sleeping people in 36 wards of the city of Bhopal!
The run up to the tragedy.
MIC needs to be maintained below 5 degrees Celsius under pressure. But the refrigeration system had been shut down since Jun '84; the tank and the valves were defective. Temperatures seemed to have risen to 350 degrees Celsius in the tank and the highly reactive gas had decomposed and created a deadly cocktail of poisonous gases that were released into the atmosphere when the tank had exploded!
The consequences.
Death and injury came without warning to the sleeping population. Symptoms ranged from suffocation, blindness and vomiting to spontaneous abortions, lung, kidney, liver and brain damage. Over 20,000 people were estimated to have been killed and over 5 lakhs injured! Cattle and birds died in the surrounding areas, dead fish floated in the lakes and even trees lost their leaves!!
And 30 years later, justice still seems to elude the poor victims! Consider these:-
* Warren Anderson, the then chairman of Union Carbide, was arrested on arrival at Bhopal.
He was given bail within 6 hrs, flown to Delhi in a state government aircraft and he flies out
of Delhi, never to return. He died on 29 Sep, this year, in the US.
* The Supreme Court of India okays the settlement signed by the Union Government and
Carbide. Accordingly, Carbide was to pay Rs.705 crores(470 million $) as compensation
and all civil, criminal charges were dropped! This had happened in '89!!
* Partial payment of the compensation was made by the Carbide in '94.
* Union Carbide bought by the Dow Chemical Company in 2001.
* In 2004, the Supreme Court accepts that the actual number of gas victims was 5.73 lakhs and
not 1 lakh as assumed in '89. Victims file for increase in compensation.
* In 2010, a petition was filed by the Union government to change the 1989 settlement
and increase compensation.
Tailpiece.
(a) Is the lethargy in settlement due to the fact that the people affected are poor people and aren't influential enough? Does the foreign company think that the Indian lives are too cheap?
(b) There's a family connection to this incident. My younger brother-in-law was doing his post graduation in Bhopal but was lucky to have been away from the epicenter! And no, he wasn't
related to us then!!
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