Before The Railway Men: 10 things you need to know about 1984 Bhopal Gas Tragedy
On the night of December 2, 1984, Methyl Isocyanate (MIC) gas leaked from a Union Carbide India Limited (UCIL) pesticide plant in Bhopal, Madhya Pradesh. The leak killed more than 20,000 people, and left more than 6,00,000 injured. 37 years after that fateful night, Yash Raj Films (YRF) has released a teaser of a web series based on the tragedy, The Railway Men. This would also be the first Yash Raj venture on an OTT platform. Also, The Railway Men will mark the debut of Irrfan's son Babil Khan in showbiz.
Watch the teaser of The Railway Men first:
In 10 points, we try and explain the Bhopal Gas Tragedy, how it started, the devastation and the aftermath.
1. HOW THE LEAK HAPPENED
A backflow of water into the tank E610, which contained 45 tonnes of MIC, is alleged to be the cause of the entire gas leak. Water entering the tank at the plant caused a runaway exothermic reaction that caused the gas to leak around 11.30 pm. The workers sensed something was amiss, but before anything could be done, around 30 tonnes of gas leaked from the plant in 45 minutes. In the next two hours, the plant had emptied out.
2. CHAOS FOLLOWS
The MIC gas that leaked from the plant travelled low on the ground and started affecting the people residing in the neighbouring slums and buildings. People felt nauseated and pain in their throat. Doctors did not know proper treatment methods of gas leak-affected patients. Children turned blind, people began vomiting, and a plethora of effects followed. People died on the streets. The city cremation ground ran out of space.
3. DEATHS, DEATHS, AND SOME MORE DEATHS
As the MIC moved towards south-eastern Bhopal, it killed more than 3,000 people. Activists say more than 8,000 people died two weeks later, and another 8,000 died from gas related complications.
4. LIVESTOCK, FISH, TREES ALL DEAD
The carcasses of dead animals were spread all over Bhopal the next morning. The animals died due to bloating. The MIC gas also left the river water toxic, which killed all the fish. The gas seeped into the soil of Bhopal and left the ground water undrinkable. After a few days, the trees died.
5. WHO IS TO BLAME?
Late journalist Rajkumar Keswani was the first to write stories on a could-be disaster from the Union Carbide chemical plant in Madhya Pradesh. From 1982 to 1984, he wrote several articles detailing inadequate safety standards in the plant which could trigger a calamity. His information of poor safety systems of the plant came in in 1981, when his friend Mohammad Ashraf, who worked at the plant, spoke of the danger of a gas leak.
6. COMPENSATION AFTER NEARLY 5 YEARS
The Indian government passed the Bhopal Gas Leak Act in March 1985, that allowed it to legally represent the victims. Union Carbide Corporation (UCC) initially offered a US$ 5 million settlement amount, which the Indian government rejected and asked for US$ 3.3 billion. Finally, an out-of-court settlement was reached in February 1989, and UCC decided to offer US$ 470 million as compensation to the victims. The Supreme Court laid down the guidelines. The family of the dead were to be given Rs 1,00,000-3,00,000, while the ones with partial injury or fully disabled were to be given Rs 50,000-5,00,000. The ones with temporary injury were to be given Rs 25,000-1,00,000.
7. A NEW TAKEOVER
A new American firm, Dow Chemical Company took over the UCC in 2001, after which it became a wholly-owned subsidiary. The company said it had no responsibility over the tragedy and it did not owe anything to victims.
8. DEATH WOULD HAVE BEEN A RELIEF
In the book The Bhopal Saga, Ingrid Eckerman detailed an account of a survivor: ”Death would have been a great relief. It’s worse to be a survivor."
37 years later, the case still remains open. The victims of the tragedy await justice and compensation, which they are yet to receive. The chemical waste remains till date; the UCC plant stays sealed. Several appeals by NGOs and human rights activists to get the waste removed have fallen on deaf ears.
9. THE AFTERMATH
Even today, the effects of the Bhopal Gas Tragedy are visible among people. High rates of cancer, physically deformed babies, and respiratory issues are just some of the effects of the tragedy, several decades on. Even neonatal deaths and stillbirths went up 200 to 300 per cent. As the chemical waste of the plant was not disposed off properly, it has reached more than 42 areas in Bhopal.
10. WHERE IS ANDERSON?
Warren Anderson, chairperson and CEO of Union Carbide Corporation was arrested minutes after he arrived at the Bhopal airport. In the detention room where he was kept for two hours, there was a landline phone which he used to contact officials in the US.
He was released within two hours, taken to New Delhi, and from there to the US, never to return to India to face the trial. It is said that the US government mounted pressure on the Rajiv Gandhi government and the Prime Minister finally let Anderson leave India. Anderson died on September 14, 2014 in a nursing home in Vero Beach, Florida, US. He was 92 years old.