Speaking out

The Bhopal gas disaster occurred two decades ago, in the intervening night of 2/3 December 1984, when MIC leaked out of the Union Carbide plant in Bhopal. It left in its wake over 3000 dead and over 500,000 people affected by the gas in varying degrees of severity. More than 15,000 people have since died of gas related illnesses. The victims of the disaster still battle on for justice. The incapacities of the law and the judicial process; a reversing of the role of the Government of India from being ‘representative of victims’ to becoming ‘representative of offenders’; the apathy, even complete failure, of the state (including both Government of Madhya Pradesh – hereafter MP government – and the central government) in undertaking relief and rehabilitation measures, has resulted in victims losing faith in the state system and the judicial process. The Head of Bhopal ki Awaaz, Shahid Noor, representing the Bhopal orphans, has been one among those expressing concern over the status of relief and rehabilitation of the Bhopal orphans and the ‘broken promises’ made to them by the government. The Head of Bhopal Gas Peedit Mahila Stationery Karamchari Sangathan, Rashida Bi, has been a prominent challenger of state apathy and its failure to provide compensation and rehabilitation to the Bhopal gas victims. They spoke to Pooja Ahluwalia about the state of affairs of the affected in Bhopal.

 

Shahid Noor – Bhopal ki Awaaz represents children who were minors at the time and lost their parents in the gas disaster. We are at present mainly concerned with employment as most of us are now majors and are unemployed. According to the Madhya Pradesh government records, at the time of the disaster there were 28 Bhopal orphans. However, according to my information there were many more. I know at least five more children, in addition to the 28, who lost their parents in the Bhopal disaster but do not find mention in any government records. ‘Bhopal orphans’ include those children who lost both their parents in the Bhopal gas tragedy. At the time of the disaster, none of us was above 14 years of age. Even according to MP government records, Rani was just one day old. So their age varied from one day to 14 years. I was eight and a half years old at the time of the disaster and seven of the 28 orphans were between one day, and one and a half years old. In 1992, my surviving relatives and I received one lakh rupees as compensation for the death of my mother. In 1996, we received a compensation amount of Rs 1.5 lakh for my father’s death. This amount was shared between all my family members. As I was a minor then, my share of Rs 66,000 was given to my guardian, i.e. my grandmother. After attaining majority, I received Rs 50,000 in my hand. My father worked with the Food Corporation of India and despite being in government service, till date I have no information about his insurance or pension.

The MP government took six orphans under its direct care and protection. They were perhaps selected because they lost both their parents as well as other relatives. Two of them were mentally challenged and sent to Thakur Prasad Sansthan, Hyderabad and have been there since. The other four were staying in Kalyani Chatrawas. One of the girls, Ganga, got married recently and another boy got a job, so they are no longer under government care. The MP government publication of 1995,titled Bhopal Gas Disaster: Relief and Rehabilitation (hereafter ‘government publication’) under the head ‘Social Rehabilitation’, claimed that:

‘For the 28 children who became orphans due to gas leak, the Bhopal Gas Disaster, Relief and Rehabilitation Department, Government of Madhya Pradesh allocated a budget of Rs 5,00,000 in 1994-95, against which Rs 4,25,000 had been spent on their care and rehabilitation. Five girls have been married and one boy has found employment. Now, for the remaining 22 orphans, the Department has been making arrangements for their relief and rehabilitation.’

This claim is a plain exaggeration. It is completely untrue that the government spent money on the marriage of five girls. I am sure that except on Ganga’s marriage, for no other marriage did the MP government contribute any funds. This false claim of government is further evident from the assertions made in the above-said government publication of 1997 where it is stated that 27 orphans were being looked after and are under the care of the government and approximately Rs 3,00,000 was spent on them every year (p. 32 of the report). You can discover the false claims made by the government year after year from the discrepancies in the budget figures and numbers of people claimed to have been rehabilitated by them in this publication.

Further, of the six orphans under direct care of MP government, three continue to be under their care, and the government has been spending approximately Rs 60,000 to 1,00,000 on them every year. The government expenditure on the three (earlier six) children has been claimed in the government records as being spent on all 28. In fact, the government has completely ignored the other 22 orphans. Of the Rs 425, 000 that the government claimed to have spent in 1995 on all the 28 orphans, only a meagre Rs 2000 was given to each of the 22 orphans who are not under direct care of government. At present, the MP government’s website shows that more than Rs 16 lakh is spent on 28 Bhopal orphans, but the fact is that as of today none of the 22 orphans has been rehabilitated.

Soon after the gas disaster, officials from the Mahila and Bal Vikas Department (Women and Child Development), MP government promised rehabilitation and medical care and treatment. Initially we were taken in a jeep/van for check-ups to the hospitals/clinics opened on an emergency basis (like Hamidia Hospital or DIG bungalow) for the purposes of ICMR monitoring (Indian Council for Medical Research) and were provided with medicines. For many years this treatment was carried out in hospitals and medicines provided. Initially we were treated for ailments like breathing problems, problems with eyes, and general weakness. At that time the doctors were empathetic. Since we were not put under any special category for the purposes of medical assistance, the result was that we received lower compensation. Even though I lived right opposite the Union Carbide factory, I wasn’t placed in any special category. Even those of us who suffered no specific ailments, some like Sunil have suffered post-disaster mental distress and are under treatment. He even attempted suicide but was saved and a criminal case is now booked against him! Most of us have suffered from other health problems like breathing, trouble with eyes and sight, weakness, skin conditions and poor immunity. But over time the doctors have become apathetic and prescribe the same medicines for all kinds of problems, from tuberculosis to simple cough, without any effort to diagnose.

The government made many promises from time to time. One promise made by the Digvijay Singh government was to provide education, which never materialised. The government officials even took our mark-sheets, but no education grant or help was ever provided. Some of the orphans did not receive any education at all, like Zubeida. Approximately 10-12 of us completed our school education above 8th standard, and only 6-7 have been able to pursue university education from their personal means. I had to discontinue my education after completing 10th standard because of lack of funds. The government never made arrangements for our education, so our expenses were met from the monthly grant of Rs 200 paid for three years. As we were minors at the time of the disaster, the money was deposited in the bank in the form of a fixed deposit. This money was accessed through our guardians and used for all our expenses, including education.

In 1994, another promise was made by the MP government that children completing 12th standard would be given government employment. However, not even a single orphan has been provided employment despite fulfilling the imposed conditionality. Likewise, one of the Bhopal orphans, Sunil, was promised a license for selling kerosene oil. No action was taken on that either, although Sunil had lost seven members of his family in this disaster, including both parents. He was also a witness in Justice Keenan’s court.

Similarly, Madhav Rao Scindia promised that 50% of Bhopal gas victims would be employed in the railway coach manufacturing factory which was to be established in Bhopal. However, nothing happened in this regard either.

2000 women were employed in several small-scale centres. However, in 1992/1994 when the BJP government came to power, it closed down all the centres on the pretext of non-availability of raw materials and resources. Even when Digvijay Singh’s government returned to power, it didn’t make any effort to reopen these centres or provide employment to these women.

We petitioned not just the government of Digvijay Singh but also Rajiv Gandhi, Arjun Singh, Babulal Gaur (current chief minister of MP). In July 2003 we sat on anshan demanding that the government either find employment for the Bhopal orphans or employ them in government service. On the fourth day of the anshan, our tent was broken and confiscated by the government authorities; they man-handled us and tried to forcibly end our anshan. However, when we persisted, Babulal Gaur assured us that he recognised our struggle as legitimate and promised to speak to the then chief minister of MP and the Gas Relief Minister at the Centre. Subsequently, at one of the inauguration ceremonies at the Old Secretariat in 2003, Digvijay Singh told us that while it would not be possible for the government to provide employment, they could give us an employment grant. But this promise too was not followed up.

In 2003 again, the government said that although they were unable to provide employment, we were offered loans to start small businesses and asked to fill up forms for that purpose. Many officials pursued it with us, but we were not interested as despite government approval, the banker would have asked for a guarantee which we could not provide and further we would have to pay the interest. When the government was bound to support us, why should we take on the burden of a loan?

The same year, the government again asked us to submit applications to start some small project within a budget of two lakh rupees, to buy an auto, for instance. We prepared and submitted our proposals. However, our applications were rejected on some ground or the other.

In the 1998 Bhopal Gas Victims: Relief and Rehabilitation report, the government claimed that 2443 gas victims were given employment, but if one sees the ground reality, it is a false claim. Bhopal orphans have not been officially acknowledged as a special category for the purposes of livelihood and employment, although their case should have been treated with utmost priority by the government.

When the Indian government entered into a settlement with Union Carbide in 1989, I was hardly 13 years old, so I did not have any personal opinion. But I remember there were two kinds of reactions among people at that time. My elders were very dissatisfied and said that the compensation amount was very inadequate. However, there were others (who were not in fact affected by the gas, but identified as entitled to compensation) who were happy about receiving compensation.

Today, as an adult, having lived through the whole situation, I feel the disaster still continues in one form or the other. We have not yet received a just compensation and rehabilitation. Further, in and around the Union Carbide plant (which is now dysfunctional), there has been general contamination of the site and its immediate surroundings due to the ongoing release of chemicals from the materials dumped or stored on site. In most of the 36 wards of Bhopal, water and soil have become contaminated because of the release of chemicals from the materials still lying within the factory premises. People in these areas do not have safe water to drink, therefore they still drink contaminated water from the hand pumps. This despite the Supreme Court having passed an order on 5 May 2004, directing the MP government to supply tankers in water- contaminated areas until the water pipelines are laid.

It is shameful that the government, in complete disregard of the SC order, has not made any effort in this regard and rather have deposed in their affidavits submitted before the SC that at least 8-9 tankers have been sent to these areas. The fact is that in areas like Sunder Nagar and Sri Ram Nagar, where the government claimed to be sending two tankers every day, not even a single tanker has visited these areas since the date of the SC orders. Even though the US court ordered that Dow Chemical would be made liable to decontaminate water and soil in the whole area, subject to a ‘No Objection Certificate’ (NOC) from the GOI, the Government of India did not take any initiative to issue the same. On 17th June 2004, we protested at the Jantar Mantar, New Delhi and sat on aamaran anshan (fast unto death) asking the government to issue the NOC. It was only on 24 June that the GOI issued the NOC.

For the past 20 years, criminal proceedings have continued against the offenders and despite several witnesses having been examined, there has been no single conviction against the offenders and no measures taken by the government to arrest Warren Anderson.

Overall, I received Rs 200 per month for three years as interim compensation. Thereafter, I received Rs 25,000 as compensation amount, which is the lowest awarded by the Supreme Court. Although, the SC ordered compensation to be paid ranging from Rs 500,000 to 25,000 depending upon the claim assessment, 95% of the victims have been awarded compensation of Rs 25,000 only. Even from this, an amount of Rs 200 per month for three years (i.e. Rs 7200) has been deducted.

Life before and after the gas disaster has changed completely. Before the disaster we were like any other happy family leading a fulfilling and normal life. My family had many small businesses; we owned an atta chakki (flour mill), a dairy with 16-17 buffaloes, eenth-bhatti (brick kiln), 24 acres of fields etc. My father, a college graduate, was a government servant. After the disaster I lost everything. I lost my parents. Initially, I survived on whatever rations were provided on a day to day basis. I studied in an English medium school before the disaster; after the disaster, I barely managed to complete my 10th standard from a Hindi medium school, and had to take on family responsibilities. The disaster has affected even the future generations. Life has been tough ever since. The government has not made a sincere effort to rehabilitate the gas victims, despite available resources and has always made false promises to us.

 

Rashida Bi – Since the gas disaster occurred, we have carried out many campaigns and protests against Union Carbide and the Government of India and the Government of Madhya Pradesh. On 2 December 1985, we organised the first protest against the government and burnt effigies. We demanded that Union Carbide and its CEO, Warren Anderson should be brought to India and booked for the disaster.

When the Union of India and Union Carbide reached a settlement in May 1989, we held protests and campaigns against the settlement because it absolved Union Carbide of its criminal responsibilities and the criminal cases against them were withdrawn in all the courts of India. Also, we considered the settlement amount to be highly insufficient, and the victim’s perspective had been blatantly ignored in the settlement process. The result of this campaign was that criminal cases were reinstituted against Warren Anderson and Union Carbide and an investigation into the matter by CBI was ordered to establish guilt and responsibility.

In 2001, when Union Carbide merged with Dow Chemical, the office of Dow Chemical in Mumbai was painted red and we demanded that Dow Chemical should take full responsibility for Union Carbide’s action with regard to the Bhopal gas disaster.

For the past two decades, every year on 2 and 3 December, we hold protests against Union Carbide, Dow Chemical and the Indian government. We burn effigies and take out processions, asking for Union Carbide to be brought to justice, and for Warren Anderson to be prosecuted. We will continue this till the perpetrators are brought to justice.

Since 2002, on 2nd December at 12 pm, we pay condolence and homage before the statue built in front of the Union Carbide plant in the memory of those who lost their lives in the disaster. We light a candle and take an oath to fight till justice is done.

On 28 June 2002, we undertook a 19 day anshan before Jantar Mantar, New Delhi demanding that compensation money allocated to 36 wards of Bhopal, amounting to Rs 1360 crore be distributed to the gas victims, to whom the money belonged. Also, we demanded that CBI should withdraw its fabricated case against Warren Anderson, absolving him of his responsibilities or to be charged and tried for a lesser offence. As a result the CBI withdrew its case and the previous case was reinstituted. Also, the Supreme Court ordered the compensation money to be distributed among the victims. In this regard, there were protests all over the world. Diana Wilson also protested for 28 days in front of Dow Chemical in the United States.

From 28 July-9 August 2002, a protest and demonstration was held at the statue built in front of Union Carbide, to send a message that the victims will not let Bhopal be repeated anywhere in the world and that these corporations will have to assume liability and responsibility for their actions.

On 15 August 2002, we started a jhadoo maro andolan (campaign), symbolising that Indian women who use jhadoo to clean their houses, if needed can also use it against corporations like Union Carbide and Dow Chemical in order to compel them to assume responsibilities for their actions. We demanded that Dow Chemical should take the responsibility for decontamination of the plant and its surroundings and failing which, with this jhadoo their business would be swept away from the world. We also gave the following slogan ‘Atal ko belan, Advani ko chimta, Jhadoo maro Dow ko’.

In August 2002, we went to Johannesburg to the Earth Summit organised in regard to environment conservation and sustainable development. We were informed that while United Nations and prime ministers from all the countries participated in this summit, corporations like Dow Chemical were also invited. During the summit, we expressed our astonishment that at such a platform where people have gathered to discuss environment and conservation issues, corporations like Dow, one of the biggest environmental polluters, were also invited. We appealed to the international community to join together in a sincere effort to save the environment. We asked how the international community could allow such corporations to participate alongside them. This implied that they were not sincere and honest about their efforts in this regard and that they have surrendered before such corporations who were responsible for disasters like Bhopal, which has been considered as the worst human disaster in human history after the Hiroshima bombings. We raised our symbol of the ‘jhadoo’ and appealed to women all over the world to join us in this fight against the corporations to ensure safe and clean air, water and environment that all of us and our future generations are entitled to. We told the gathering that these corporations cannot be allowed to go scot-free just because they operate in poor countries, and must be held responsible for the death of hundreds and injuries to thousands.

Wherever such corporations are established in the world, women should confront them with a jhadoo and tell them that only when they legally take responsibility for the Bhopal disaster will they be allowed to operate. Also, they should not trust their governments as they are with these rich corporations and don’t care for us. They should boycott the products manufactured by such corporations and companies which produce poison.

On 25 November 2002, we went inside Union Carbide factory premises in order to clear the unused material stored therein. More contamination has been caused over the past years due to this material. However, the police prevented us from clearing the place and the government provoked the general public against us by telling them that we were intending to go inside the Union Carbide plant in order to release MIC, which would cause more deaths. Hundreds of people were arrested and cases filed against them. Later, at the initiative of Sonia Gandhi, the government apologised and withdrew the cases against the protesters.

In 2003, we went to Italy, Belgium, Netherlands, Switzerland, Israel and other countries. We took our jhadoo symbol and gave it to the CEOs of Dow Chemical in all these countries, reminding them of their responsibility with respect to the Bhopal gas disaster. We took samples of soil and water from the contaminated site and demanded that Dow clean up Bhopal. We were arrested in the Netherlands too, but released after five hours. We made four demands:

a) Union Carbide and Warren Anderson be brought to India and held accountable for their actions;

b) A guarantee of health care and treatment for the next two generations of Bhopal gas victims to be borne by Dow Chemical;

c) For families incapacitated because of the gas disaster and cannot work, guarantee of employment be provided by Dow Chemical; and

d) Responsibility for decontamination of water, soil and environment be borne by Dow Chemical.

From 1-12 May 2003, we protested in New York, USA. We began from New York and carried on till Michigan where, on 8 May, we participated in the shareholders meeting of Dow Chemical. We also held anshan of 12 days and protested outside the Indian embassy and told them that it was shameful that they and the Indian government were not making any effort to arrest Warren Anderson while he was moving around freely. In April 2003, we visited various schools and colleges in New York and informed the students about the problems of victims and the actions of Dow Chemical to gather their support. At the shareholders meeting on 8 May 2003, we were told by the officials of Dow Chemical that although they sympathised wth our cause, they could not assume responsibility for Bhopal. We confronted them by asking that when they merged with another cement company, they undertook all the liabilities and responsibilities attached with that company; then why were they refusing to take responsibility for Union Carbide’s actions? Was it only because the cement company was in America and they did not value the lives of the poor in India? They responded that there was an ongoing case against the said cement company, whereas there was no case pending in America against Union Carbide. We asserted that Dow was misleading its shareholders with such wrong assertions.

On 18 April 2003, I went to Louisiana, USA to meet people who had suffered due to water contamination caused by Dow Chemical. We decided to join their struggle and unite to fight for each others’ concerns.

On 13 May 2003, another shareholders meeting of Dow Chemical was organised in Midler, USA. Dow Chemical was responsible for contamination of the entire river in this state and a case was filed against it. Since the victims were working in the corporation, they feared protesting against the company. However, we tried to convince them that we supported their struggle, and that they should be fearless and stand up for their rights. We demonstrated outside the building of Dow Chemical. Although we were invited by their officials to come inside and talk, we refused as we were aware that they would not assume responsibility for Union Carbide’s actions in Bhopal. We warned them that we would continue our protests until they will declared the truth to the world and accepted responsibility towards the victims.

With regard to the US court’s order about holding Dow Chemical responsible for the decontamination of the plant and the surrounding area, subject to NOC from the GOI, on 18 June 2004, we started a fast without water, demanding that the GOI issue the NOC. 305 people sat on anshan around the world including outside the Indian embassy in Washington. The result was positive and we received overwhelming response and support. On 24 June, the GOI finally issued the NOC.

We also protested against the central government’s decision to forward the compensation money held in the Reserve Bank of India amounting to Rs 470 crore (according to government’s claim) as opposed to Rs 1360 crore (the actual sum) to MP government for the purpose of establishing a museum in the memory of those who died in the Bhopal gas disaster, or to facilitate the state government on the Narmada dam project. We protested as this money belonged to the Bhopal victims, and 36 victims (one selected from each of the 36 wards) brought a case before the Supreme Court. During the case it was found that Rs 1503 crore of the compensation money remained with the RBI. The SC ordered this money to be distributed among the Bhopal gas victims within three months from the date of the order, i.e. by 1 Ocober 2004. There are five applications that have been filed since, trying to stall the implementation of the order of the SC.

From 11th October 2004 we have started a protest against the above action by burning five effigies across the 36 wards every day. Also, on 14th October 2004 a gherao of the Gas Relief Director’s office was undertaken and his office captured (kabza) for three hours. This was done in relation to the water contamination problem and because the government, despite the SC orders, made no effort to send tankers or to initiate laying down of pipelines in the affected areas. We have carried on this protest since March 2004. The gherao was called off only when the Director gave in writing that the tankers would be sent and the pipelines installed.

The victims of the Bhopal gas disaster propose that the land of Union Carbide plant should be cleaned up and used to build a memorial to those who lost their lives. Further, that the state assume full responsibility to: (i) rehabilitate victims, which they have failed to fulfil till now; (ii) provide adequate health facilities to the victims and their families and to future generations; and (iii) provide employment to the victims and their families.

We consider that the settlement was a fraud and that the victims’ dead bodies were sold off by the GOI. Justice has not been done.