It was on a pleasant afternoon that I reached the sight where the Union Carbide Plant was located (I had been here more than a decade back). The Plant had large barren land surrounding, not cordon off, no guards, children played cricket and cattle grazed the field. This was shocking since hundreds of tons of toxic waste is still left untouched- an environmental disaster site. Studies indicate that tons of toxic material dumped at the old plant has now seeped into the groundwater. Well water and groundwater tests conducted in the surrounding areas in 1999 showed mercury leve
ls to be at “20,000 and 6 million times” higher than expected levels; heavy metals and organochlorines were present in the soil. Environmental groups who had collected samples from the soil (groundwater, fruits, and vegetables) have found high levels of heavy metals such as nickel, chromium, mercury, and lead, along with other toxic materials in the area and surrounding. Shocking also because this is the sight, which caused the worst industrial tragedy in the world.
Opposing the Plant, across the road, was like any other poorer location of the city- densely populated, congested houses with narrow by lanes, most of them had one or more family member victim of this disaster. Dow chemicals (which now own Union Carbide) refuse to clean up the place and has put thousand of people’s lives in constant life threatening ailments for last 23 years. A Union Carbide spokesman says that the company and its sole shareholder, the Dow Chemical Company, cannot be held liable for any waste cleanup at the plant or any contamination of the ground water. "There is no legal foundation for applic
ation of liability". Comrades in Bengal have now opened the door for Dow Chemicals. Comrade scoundrels. People of Haldia should know what they are getting into. Dow Chemicals was also fined by US finance regulatory recently for unfair trade practices in India. They bribed Indian officials around 8.8 million Rs. Any cases in India???. Off course not, it’s about sacred Investment, rising GDP and off course Comrades Party Fund, after all they have to save the world!!. Experts warn that Indian regulations on industry remain lax, and that a future Bhopal-style tragedy referred to as ‘Hiroshima of the Chemical Industry’ is still very possible.
ls to be at “20,000 and 6 million times” higher than expected levels; heavy metals and organochlorines were present in the soil. Environmental groups who had collected samples from the soil (groundwater, fruits, and vegetables) have found high levels of heavy metals such as nickel, chromium, mercury, and lead, along with other toxic materials in the area and surrounding. Shocking also because this is the sight, which caused the worst industrial tragedy in the world.Opposing the Plant, across the road, was like any other poorer location of the city- densely populated, congested houses with narrow by lanes, most of them had one or more family member victim of this disaster. Dow chemicals (which now own Union Carbide) refuse to clean up the place and has put thousand of people’s lives in constant life threatening ailments for last 23 years. A Union Carbide spokesman says that the company and its sole shareholder, the Dow Chemical Company, cannot be held liable for any waste cleanup at the plant or any contamination of the ground water. "There is no legal foundation for applic
ation of liability". Comrades in Bengal have now opened the door for Dow Chemicals. Comrade scoundrels. People of Haldia should know what they are getting into. Dow Chemicals was also fined by US finance regulatory recently for unfair trade practices in India. They bribed Indian officials around 8.8 million Rs. Any cases in India???. Off course not, it’s about sacred Investment, rising GDP and off course Comrades Party Fund, after all they have to save the world!!. Experts warn that Indian regulations on industry remain lax, and that a future Bhopal-style tragedy referred to as ‘Hiroshima of the Chemical Industry’ is still very possible. The worst commercial industrial disasters in history, mass murder is the word used (quite appropriately), occurred on the night of 3rd December 1984. I recall this clearly since I was awake as I had to finish school homework and the TV was on- not sure if it was the fateful night or the night after but the image of people running helter skelter is etched clearly. Another connection is that few years later we had a classmate in school who escaped the tragedy unscathed despite being in Bhopal (years later I came to know he got severely burned in an accide
nt) he used to give vivid details of the event. Of the 800,000 people living in Bhopal at the time, 3000 died immediately around 500,000 people were exposed to the leaking chemicals. Approximately 20,000, to this date, are believed to have died as a result; on average, roughly one person dies every day from the effects. Over 120,000 continue to suffer from the effects of the disaster, such as breathing difficulties, cancer, serious birth-defects, blindness, gynaecological complications and other related problems. According to a report it is believed that 50,000 people are unable to work because of their debilitating ailments. This chilling paragragh from a senior railway official who was witness to the tragedy when train arrived carrying victims from Bhopal to Itarsi:
The sight at Itarsi was something straight out of Dante’s ‘Inferno.’ Dozens of men, women and children were writhing in agony and we watched them in horrified helplessness. Death was a welcome relief to the victims, their eyeballs swollen red and bursting, every breath bringing agony to their burning lungs. The screams of the tortured bodies were in different languages
Beginning in 1991, the local authorities from Bhopal charged Warren Anderson (who headed Union Carbide and retired in 1986), with manslaughter, a crime that carries a maximum penalty of 10 years in prison. Anderson has so far avoided an international arrest warrant and a US court summons. He was declared a fugitive from justice by the Chie
f Judicial Magistrate of Bhopal on Feb 1 1992 for failing to appear at the court hearings in a culpable homicide case in which he was named the chief defendant. Orders were passed to the Government of India to press for an extradition from the United States, with whom India had an extradition treaty in place. He went missing for several years, until he was discovered by Greenpeace “living a life of luxury in the Hamptons”. The Bhopal Medical Appeal believe that “neither the American nor the Indian government seem interested in disturbing him with an extradition”. Some allege that the Indian government has hesitated to put forth a strong case of extradition to the United States, fearing backlash from foreign investors who have become more important players in the Indian economy following liberlisation. A plea by India's Central Bureau of Investigation to dilute the charges from culpable homicide to criminal negligence has since been dismissed by the Indian courts. (para copied from the Net). Around the wall the views (frustration is better word) of people could be read.The contamination from grazing cattle stock getting into food chain and consequences on children playing in the field, facing constant exposure is anybody’s guess. In an investigation broadcast on BBC on Nov 14, 2004, it was reported that the site is still contaminated with 'thousands' of metric tons of toxic chemicals, including benzene hexachloride and mercury, held in open containers or loose on the ground. Some areas are reportedly so polluted that anyone entering the area for more than ten minutes is likely to lose consciousness. Rainfall causes run-off, polluting local wells and boreholes, and the results of tests undertaken on behalf of the BBC by accredited water analysis laboratories in the United Kingdom reveal pollution levels in borehole water 500 times the legal maximum in that country. This blogger didn’t risk venturing into the site. There was a small park adjoining the Union Carbide plant, where children were playing. The park had old rusted slide that seem to be centre of amusement for the
kids. I had no intention to speak to people, 23 years is frustratingly long period, its important not to fleece their tragedy. I considered asking questions on tragedy an insult on people in here. But children’s experiences are different, so got into the mode of getting to know them, asking about the school they study and so on. Children were not too keen on interaction as they were too immersed in their game, only when I took out the camera they were interested and congregated around me shouting “photo lo hamari” in the mean time I asked them in passing whether they were aware what happened out there, pointing to the factory. For a moment there was a silence then the youngest of them got into the act, and screamed “‘gas nikili thee” and slid down as if exhilarated by the knowledge!!. The eldest of them who could be 7 or 8 mentioned his father has eye related ailments since the gas leak, meanwhile younger one pulled his hair and ran, and he chased him cursing. I left them in their own world, somewhat guilty of the intrusion. 
