Bhopal 25 years on
04-12-2009
Laccho Bai’s life has gone from bad to worse in the 25 years since the Bhopal gas tragedy, when fumes escaped from a pesticide plant in the
central Indian city.
A thin white mucus covers Laccho’s eyes, the result of exposure to more than 40 tonnes of methyl isocyanate gas that filled the air on December 3, 1984.
Like many other survivors living close to the Union Carbide facility, she and her family saw none of the multi-million dollar settlement
package meant to help those affected in the disaster.
“People came and told us we could apply for compensation,” Laccho’s husband, Laxmi Narayan, said. “They took our name down, but we never saw a penny.”
The incident killed between 8,000 and 10,000 people within the first three days, according to independent data by the state-run Indian Council of Medical Research (ICMR), and thousands more still suffer from the effects of exposure to the fumes and contamination of land and water.
In order to claim compensation, survivors had to prove their ailments, including kidney problems, cancer and respiratory illnesses, were actually caused by the toxic cloud from the plant.
“This was very hard for people who were poor and illiterate,” said Rachna Dhingra, coordinator with the International Campaign for Justice in Bhopal (ICJB), an umbrella group of survivors’ organisations.
The Indian government, after initially demanding $3.3 billion (£1.9b) from Union Carbide, agreed in 1989 to an out-of-court settlement totalling $470 million (£284m) which absolved the firm of any liability to clear up 350 tonnes of remaining toxic waste.
A 2004 supreme court ruling ordered money left over from the settlement, and the interest accrued on it, be given to survivors. But the ICJB estimates at least 100,000 people received only interim compensation of Rs 200 (£2) per month immediately after the world’s worst industrial accident.
Many more received nothing at all, the result of red tape, corruption and civil servants who rejected forms because names had been misspelled, said Dhingra.
“The process itself was flawed. Judges had no training to deal with people who had no proof to show they were victims,” she added.
Most of the victims who did receive compensation got Rs 25,000 (£327) to fund a lifetime of hospital visits, with the interim payment deducted from that sum. Relatives of those killed were paid an additional Rs 100,000 (£1,308) for each family member who died.
“If we had received the money all at once, I could have helped my family pay for medical treatment,” said Aziza Sultan, who says she miscarried on the street while fleeing the site in terror and entered menopause at the age of 32 after being exposed to the gas.
Sanjay Verma, whose parents and five siblings died in the accident, considers himself lucky, having received Rs 700,000 (£9,156) after the 1989 settlement and once again after the 2004 case.
But his remaining brother committed suicide in 2006 after a lengthy fight to see former Union Carbide executives prosecuted for their role in the tragedy.
