Bhopal: Twenty-nine years after the deadly gas leak from the Union Carbide plant in Bhopal, the scars of this tragedy are not just visible but continue to hound the victims amidst long legal battles and continued government apathy. The Supreme Court of India on October 29, 2013 ordered parity in the salary of 50 women survivors who demanded equal pay for equal work. This order from the Supreme Court that came after 23 long years is hardly any solace as most of the women survivors are now on the verge of reaching the retirement age. Considered the world's worst industrial disaster, the gas tragedy took place on the intervening night of December 2-3, 1984.
The leakage of the deadly gas methyl isocyanate from the plant of multi-national company Union Carbide India Limited killed over 3000 people and affected over 5 lakh people. "In the past 29 years, we have been fighting with limited resources we had but nothing substantial has come out yet. Both the state and central governments have been eye-washing the world on the matter," Rachna Dhingra, a member of the Bhopal Group for Information and Action. Dhingra said 25,000 metric tonnes of toxic waste still lies inside the locked Union Carbide plant in Bhopal. "So far, only 350 tonnes of waste has been removed and the rest continues to lie inside the plant with none having any answer to when will it be removed," she said. "The Madhya Pradesh government has accepted about the contamination of groundwater in the region but no steps have been taken for its disposal," she said.
Balkrishna Namdeo of the Bhopal Gas Peedit Nirashrit Pension Bhogi Sangharsh Samiti said the worst part is that the culprits behind the tragedy are still at large and the government has failed to put them behind bars. "The people who were responsible for the whole tragedy have gone scot free and our government did not take any action to punish those responsible for taking so many innocent lives," Namdeo said. Victims say the impact of the tragedy can be seen even today as hundreds of children born in the area even now suffer from disabilities.
"There are no jobs, victims are being given substandard medicines in hospitals and children continue to be born with disabilities of all kinds. We have been fighting and will continue for our rights," Rashida Bi, head of the Bhopal Gas Peedit Mahila Stationery Karmchari Sangh said. Rashida Bi is one of the 90 odd women survivors of the Bhopal gas tragedy who were imparted training in stationary making as part of the government's rehabilitation programme. Rashida Bi said, "The tragedy is that we are women and we are gas victims. No government has looked at us with any kind of sympathy. In fact they have ensured that we don't get justice." Many of these women are nearing the age of 60. They will soon retire from their jobs without any savings and without any pension. Every year these victims reiterate their resolve to fight for justice but there is little hope.
