Bhopal Gas leak Disaster, a disaster which in true sense can never be compensated. Children, adults, and animals no one was spared. It was the early morning of December 3, 1984 a Union Carbide pesticide producing plant leaked a highly toxic cloud of methyl isocyanate onto the densely populated region of Bhopal, Central India. Of the 800,000 people living in Bhopal at the time, 2,000 died immediately, 300,000 were injured and as many as 8,000 have died since. The leak was caused by a series of mechanical and human errors. A portion of the safety equipment at the plant had been non-operational for four months and the rest failed.

The city health officials had not been informed of the toxicity of the chemicals used at the Union Carbide factory. There were no emergency plans or procedures in place and no knowledge of how to deal with the poisonous cloud. Even after many years, the sufferers are continuously suffering. While some suffered from biological aftermaths, others suffer from mental despair, as there has been considerable delay in giving compensation. In fact, a series of studies made five years later showed that many of thesurvivors were still suffering from oneor several of the following ailments:partial or complete blindness, gastro intestinal disorders, impaired immune systems, post traumatic stress disorders, and menstrual problems in women. A rise in spontaneous abortions, stillbirths, and offspring with genetic defects was also noted. Although Union Carbide denied liability, in 1989 the Indian Supreme court agreed to a settlement payment of $470 million by Union Carbide to the survivors of the disaster. One of the world’s worst industrial accidents, the Bhopal tragedy clearly demonstrates the inequalities between human rights and safety I developed and underdeveloped countries.

An amount of Rs. 1,546.62 crore has been awarded to 5,74,273 claimants of the Bhopal Gas Leak. There has been considerable delay in giving compensation

The Bhopal Gas Tragedy is a catastrophe that has no parallel in industrial history. In the early morning hours of December 3, 1984 a rolling wind carried a poisonous grey cloud past the walk of the Union Carbide C plan in Bhopal, Madhya Pradesh, India. An estimated 8,000 or more people died (over three times the officially announced total), people whose hopes and dreams were ironically bound up with the technology and affluence the plant symbolised. Forty tons of toxic gases were released from Carbide’s Bhopal plant and spread throughout the city. The cause was the contamination of Methyl Isocyanate (MIC) storage tank No. 610 with water carrying catalytic material. Residents awoke to clouds of suffocating gas and began a desperate flight through the dark streets. No alarm ever sounded a warning and no evacuation plan was prepared. Dead bodies of humans and animals blocked the streets, leaves turned black, and the smell of burning chilli peppers lingered in the air. In October 1982 a mixture of MIC, chloroform and hydrochloric acid escaped from the Bhopal plant endangering the neighbouring community and injuring a few workers. Between one-half and two-thirds of the skilled engineers who were fully familiar with the plant right from the project stage and certainly since the commissioning, had left the Union Carbide Bhopal establishment before the accident.

The fate of those who have suffered the tragedy cannot be changed by anyone now. But the time taken by the judicial authorities to decide the matter and award compensation raises a question on the utility of courts today. This question however, has been in existence much prior to this Bhopal Gas Tragedy. Infact even in many other cases being adjudicated today the sufferers of delay are more in number than the sufferers of Bhopal Gas Tragedy.

This silent pain is due to the lax attitude of the Judiciary which cannot be changed now but can only be hoped to be improved.

-Prabhu Dayal