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Letter
from New Delhi
Bhopal
Gas Disaster continues to be a tragedy
--
Atul Dev
A
recent, apparently insignificant, news item has drawn the
attention of the nation! Dow Chemical, the present owner of
US based multinational Union Carbide, is currently
attempting to recruit students of IIT Chennai on campus for
their company and subsidiaries. The alumni of this
prestigious institution have taken up the matter with
members of the Senate of IIT Chennai, to urge the
authorities of IIT Chennai to bar Dow Chemical and all
its subsidiaries from campus recruitment. The name Union
Carbide rings a bell.
Union
Carbide, it will be recalled, was the owner of the ill fated
plant in Bhopal, capital of the Indian State of Madhya
Pradesh, which on 3 Dec 1984 was involved in a deadly gas
accident resulting in the death of over 20,000 people and
incapacitating over 120,000 persons who continue to suffer
to this day. As a consequence, Union Carbide is a key
accused in a criminal case related to the Bhopal gas
disaster where the company is charged with "culpable
homicide not amounting to murder"; a serious criminal
offence, in any court of law, in any part of the world.
To
make matters worse, Union Carbide has avoided summons issued
by the Bhopal Court all these years. Because it failed to
honour that summons, the company was declared an absconder
in 1992. Since Union Carbide has not even responded to
summons in this criminal case, Dow Chemical, the present
owners of the accused company, become guilty of shielding a
criminally absconding corporation and have, therefore, also
been charged in the criminal court for sheltering a
fugitive. Up to this day, Dow Chemical has failed to make
Union Carbide, its 100 percent subsidiary, appear in court
to face trial.
As
a result of this completely callous attitude of the
corporations concerned, Dow Chemical is the target of a
concerted campaign by survivors of the gas tragedy and
families of those that perished. The objective of this
campaign is to draw attention to the fact that these guilty
people are being allowed to get away without being punished
for their actions and without providing adequate support and
compensation to those that were affected. The alumni of IIT
Chennai are acting in support of those affected by the
world’s biggest eco-disaster.
What
happened on the fateful night is worth recounting. During
the dead of night of 2/3 Dec 1984, a gas holding tank with
43 tonnes of stored Methyl
Isocyanate (MIC) belonging to the Union Carbide plant
located in a crowded locality of Bhopal, overheated and
released toxic heavier-than-air MIC gas that rolled along
the ground through the surrounding streets. Though
the siren alarm was activated to warn the residents of
Bhopal, it was quickly switched off to avoid causing panic
among the residents. Thus, many continued to sleep, unaware
of the danger that had been let loose in their city. Many
others, on hearing the alarm siren being switched off,
assumed that the danger had been taken care of and went back
to sleep.
Brigadier
Navin Mayne was yanked out of his bed by a telephone call
from the Commissioner of Bhopal, the seniormost civil
administration official of that Division, to be informed of
the disaster and to seek immediate help from the Army in aid
of civil authority. Brig Mayne, being the Sub-Area Commander
was the senior Army Officer in station, reacted with usual
alertness; he was out of his bungalow in the Cantonment in
less than 15 minutes. Being familiar with the city, he knew
where he needed to go but did not know of the danger that
lurked ahead. As he drove closer to the plant, he saw a sea
of humanity writhing on the ground unable to breathe; many
already dead. Good sense prevailed, he turned around and
headed for the Commissioner’s residence, which had by then
become a beehive of activity. Soon the Army was formally
called out to help in rescue of the injured and disposal of
the dead.
As
the day broke over the city reality dawned on the
administration and the people. The transportation system in
the city had collapsed and many people were trampled trying
to escape. According to the legal case filed, around 500,000
people were exposed to the leaking gas. Of these
approximately 20,000 are believed to have died. Even after
24 years, over 120,000 people living in and around Bhopal
continue to suffer from the effects of the disaster, such as
breathing difficulties, cancer, serious birth defects,
blindness, gynaecological complications and other related
problems.
The
majority of deaths and serious injuries were related to
pulmonary oedema, but the gas caused a wide variety of other
ailments. Signs and symptoms of MIC exposure normally
include coughing, dyspnoea, chest pain, lacrimation, eyelid
oedema and unconsciousness. These effects might progress in
the following 24 to 72 hours to include acute lung injury,
cardiac arrest and eventually death. Because of the
hypothesized reactions that took place within the storage
tank and in the surrounding atmosphere, it is thought that
apart from MIC, phosgene, and hydrogen cyanide along with
other poisonous gases all played a significant role in this
disaster.
As
you may have feared, Brigadier Navin Mayne succumbed to the
effects of MIC gas and passed away in Military Hospital in
1989. The President of India decorated him with the Ati
Vishist Seva Medal (AVSM). His wife and children are yet to
receive the promised compensation. What has been given so
far is peanuts and that too in petty installments!
As
a result of the inquiry held, it has been reported that
apart from the disaster, Union Carbide's routine operations
in the Bhopal factory have resulted in a massive
environmental contamination problem that has not been
addressed to this day. Several thousand tons of toxic waste,
obsolete pesticides and contaminated material and machinery
lie strewn in and around the factory site. Over the years,
this toxic waste has released its poison into the
groundwater. More than 20,000 people living in and around
the area are forced to consume this contaminated water in
the absence of any alternative. Tests carried out at IIT,
Kanpur, by a New Delhi based fact finding mission on Bhopal,
showed the presence of toxic chemicals such as chloroform,
chlorobenzenes, dichloromethane and heavy metals such as
lead and mercury in the breast milk of mothers in these
communities.
Unfortunately,
Union Carbide and Dow Chemical have refused to contribute
towards the cleaning up of the environmental contamination
and ground water sources.
Dow
Chemical purchased Union Carbide in 2001 for $10.3 billion
in stock and debt. At the time of this take over, it was
stated by the management of Dow that Union Carbide
settlement payments have already fulfilled Dow's financial
liability for the disaster. They are depending on the 1989
settlement that was arrived at with the assistance of the
Government of India. While it is clear that all
compensations have not yet reached the affected families, it
is equally surprising to note how Dow Chemical is equally
certain that all its liabilities as inherited from Union
Carbide stand cleared!
Some
Dow Chemical shareholders had even filed suits to stop the
merger on the grounds of the outstanding liabilities for the
Bhopal disaster. The merger had gained criticism from the
International Campaign for Justice in Bhopal, an NGO
championing the cause of the affected, as it was -
“contrary to established merger laws”, when Dow denied
any responsibility for Union Carbide’s Bhopal liabilities.
According to the Bhopal Medical Appeal, another organisation
working to help seek relief for the affected families, --
“ Union Carbide remains liable for the environmental
devastation”, as environmental damage was not included in
the 1989 settlement, despite ongoing contamination issues.
Dow
Chemical's motive behind the relationship it is attempting
to forge with IIT Chennai is certainly not with the
intention of furtherance of science and technology! It is an
attempt to acquire legitimacy and credibility by associating
itself with an IIT in India. Any association with Dow
Chemical will certainly tarnish the impeccable reputation of
IIT Chennai. By refusing campus recruitment to the company,
IIT Chennai will be sending a strong signal that it stands
by principles of justice and ethics.
How
strong is the case of the victims and others against Union
Carbide can be gauged by the fact that recently it was
discovered in the course of another lawsuit against Union
Carbide, for environmental contamination, before a New York
Federal District Court, that Carbide had exported
"untested, unproven technology" to the Indian
plant.
While
the management of Union Carbide has consistently avoided
facing Indian courts, the people of the town of Bhopal
continue to suffer from the after-effects of one of
world’s largest enviromental disasters. It is this
tragedy, in the fitness of things, that the alumni of IIT
Chennai have taken the lead to once again highlight by
preventing Dow Chemical and Union Carbide from making a
backdoor entry into India and thus regain respectability.
(Atul
Dev is a New Delhi based senior freelance journalist. He can
be contacted at: atuldev@airtelbroadband.in)
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