Bhopal: Friday marks 37 years of the horror that had occurred in the Madhya Pradesh capital in 1984 when thousands of people were killed due to the tragic gas leak from the pesticide plant of Union Carbide India Limited (UCIL). On this occasion, protests are being held in the capital Bhopal against the foreign company responsible for the Bhopal gas tragedy and the governments supporting it. This series of demonstrations have started from 12 noon, which will continue till evening. Common citizens and gas victim organizations will participate in this. In these protests, meetings and seminars, mainly the families of the families who have suffered the effects of the gas will also be present. Over 500,000 people were exposed to methyl isocyanate (MIC) gas and other highly toxic substances like carbon monoxide, hydrogen cyanide, etc made their way into and around the small towns located near the plant.
As per a state government affidavit filed in the court in the year 2006, the tragedy had killed 3,787 people and affected more than 5.58 lakh in the state capital after toxic gas leaked from the Union Carbide factory which was closed after the tragedy. However, the organisations fighting for the victims claim the tragedy has killed at least 25,000 people. It has been 37 years since the disaster and the survivors and the kin of the deceased are still waiting to be compensated fairly by the government. Reportedly, each victim of the tragedy has so far received less than 1/5 of the allotted sum.
The financial aid was USD 470 million in 1989; it reported quoting Bhopal Gas Peedith Sangharsh Sahayog Samiti (BGPSSS) co-convener N D Jayaprakash. “The dollars turned into more than ₹3,000 crore in 2004, when the disbursements started, but the number of the victims swelled to 5.73 lakh and this amount was distributed among them. So, each victim got 1/5 of the compensation,” he also said, as per sources.