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Skeletons in the cup board ATehelka cover on the Bhopal Gastragedy
Print Email to Friend | Posted on 26 November 2011
CURRENT AFFAIRS BHOPAL GAS TRAGEDY
Hard days night: Bhopal Gas survivors stil l haveit raw
Its been 27 years and the government is sti ll busy making token gestures. Wi ll t he
Bhopal survivors ever taste justice, asks Shonal i Ghosal
With the 27th anniversary of the Bhopal Gas
Tragedy coming up on 3 December, a new movement,
the Rail Roko (Stop the trains) Andolan, is set to
begin. Organised by the International Campaign for
J ustice in Bhopal, a coalition of peoples
organisations, non-profit groups and individuals,
activists and survivors plan to go to their closest
railway tracks and stand in front of any train on the
Delhi or Mumbai route. But why stop trains passing
through Bhopal? To get adequate compensation from
Union Carbide Corporation and The Dow Chemical
Company, is the first of 10 reasons listed on its
website.
Another important reason for the movement is to
compel the Madhya P radesh (MP ) government to
present correct data to the Supreme Court in the
ongoing Curative Petition, which is scheduled for next
hearing in December. The government submits
figures like 5,000 dead when their own figures and
those obtained from the Indian Council of Medical
Lik
THE R
27 NOVEMBER 2011 SUNDAY TEHELKAHINDI.COM TEHELKAFOU
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ALSO READ
For A Few Pieces Of Si lver
A ir , W at er , Ea r t h And The Si ns
Of The Power fu l
A Ta le o f Laugh ter and
Wickedness
Research (ICMR) show that at least 16,000 people
have died so far, says Nawab Khan (65) of the
Bhopal Gas Peedit Mahila Purush Sangharsh Morcha.
Stranger still, he claims, is the fact that the
government says that approximately 5,30,000 people
who had suffered severe disabilities and health
conditions, have made a full recovery. How do people
whove got the toxic methyl isocyanate gas in their
lungs, in their blood for 27 years make a full recovery
all of a sudden? he asks. Khan, who lost his wife to
cancer in 1989 and then his son to tuberculosis in
1991, is a survivor of the tragedy.
You can only form the minds of reasoning animals
upon Facts, said a character from Charles Dickens
Hard Times. But the horrifying facts and figures of the
Bhopal tragedy dont count for much. Nothing haschanged. With the countrys attention span directly
proportional to the newest, rising figures and
important dates, the survivors struggle continues,
undeterred, as they still fight to meet their health care
needs, for better compensation, for justice. But what keeps a peoples movement
going on for this long against the mighty state and the big-bad (and foreign) Union
Carbide Corporation, now owned by Dow Chemicals?
One of the many answers lies in 27-year-old survivor Sanjay Vermas question. If not
today, well die tomorrow, so why dont we just die fighting? J ust six months old onthe night of the disaster, Sanjay lost seven family members that night: his parents,
three sisters and two brothers. Tuberculosis, cancer, lung failure, theyre all common
here. Ive met people who say they would have been lucky to have died that night, at
least theyre not dying every day, he says. He doesnt care much for official
statistics. Raised by his grandmother, he knows that not many care for the Bhopal
survivors pad yatras in 2006 and 2008 nor does it shake up the country if they go on
a hunger strike for seven days. Thats a liberty only the A-team enjoys. Nonetheless,
he still joins every yatra, every rally that he can and plans to attend the Rail Roko
Andolan too.
Another survivor, Shahid Noor (33) was nine
when he lost his parents and his seven-and-
a-half-year-old brother on the fateful night.
Tuberculosis is common in the new
generation as is cancer. Today its his/her
turn, tomorrow could be mine, he says with
a matter-of-fact nonchalance. The Chief
Minister said he would give jobs to the
Norwegian gas in GermanyStatoil makes it possible to useunconventional gas in Germany.
goodideas.statoil.com
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Resolute souls An image from the Rail Rokomovement website
Bhopal survivors since many of us are
handicapped to such an extent that we cant
work. But even that hasnt been given. For
us, there is no option but to fight, he adds. But they arent the only ones with bitter
resentment against the governments inaction.
The frustration of injustice works as a unifying factor among most survivors. The
government is cheating us. Weve tried to meet and talk but they simply arentinterested in giving us correct compensation, says Hazra Bi (55), a survivor from the
infamous J ai Prakash Nagar Colony, which falls within a kilometer-radius of the Union
Carbide plant. Her voice trembles as she remembers the night when she ran away
with her three children leaving her 11-month-old son behind. When he was rescued
later, he had already inhaled a lot of smoke, but survived. He now has a four-year-old
daughter who is so physically and mentally handicapped that she cant even stand on
her own. She isnt entitled to separate compensation; she wasnt there on the night of
3 December, 1984.
Similarly, 42-year-old survivor, Gauhar Parveen, struggles to support her 14-year-old
daughter who has been bleeding for about four years. Id rather have died that night.
I wouldnt have had my daughter and she wouldnt be suffering, she says. P arveen is
currently being treated for cancer at Bhopal Memorial hospital and like most others,
cannot afford private treatment. Union Carbide said that the people who were
exposed to the gases that night had been ruined for life. Despite that the Rs 25,000
compensation from the company was given as if they were doing charity, putting Rs
200 every month in the bank, she exclaims.
While second and third generation effects are mostly ignored in the compensation
paid by the company, some who have been directly affected are considered ineligible
for compensation as defined by categories. J agdish Newa (41), a survivor, remembers
the military trucks that came to load dead bodies. Weve seen around 100-150 people
dead right in front of our eyes. Weve inhaled these toxic gases that the foreign
company spread and our government wants to protect them, he fumes. Newa has
already had a bypass surgery but is apparently not entitled to compensation under
the clauses prescribed by the government.
Mai gas peedit aur paani peedit hu, (Im a gas, poisonous water survivor) she says
even before she gives us her name. That is 55-year-old Baanu bis first and foremostidentity. Baanu bi has lost five family members including her husband and has two
sons, 26 and 28, who are both physically incapable of work. I wanted to educate
them but my dreams died in my heart. We cant afford education when were
perpetually unwell, she says. The Rs 25,000 compensation hasnt helped her much
either. It takes about Rs 1 lakh for just one persons hospital bills for a month. I wish
wed died too, adds Baanu.
Worn out, disabled and grievously injured, the people continue to fight. Its not
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difficult to keep the movement alive in Bhopal where people are struggling with life
and death every day. The hospitals they have to run to, their handicapped children
are a constant reminder, says Rashida Bi from Bhopal Gas Victims Women' Stationery
Workers' Association.
The media and the rest of the country, however, is another story. People drinking
poisonous water isnt news, but a 7 J une verdict, which is known, is a big deal and
then it dies down. If at all, the situation has only changed because the peoples fightis on, says Rachna Dhingra of the Bhopal Group of Information and Action. Whatever
their individual reasons, whether it is to get adequate compensation or to set an
example for other imminent disasters, the message for the Rail Roko Andolan is clear.
Theyve suffered for too long. Theyll do whatever it takes to get justice. This is it.
Enough.
Shonali Ghosal i s a Trainee Correspondent with Tehelka.
shonali@tehelka.com
Print Email to Friend | Posted on 26 November 2011
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