Nafisa, 51, Shahjahnabad breaks down every time she talks about her dead sister. Her daughter Shireen, 18 years old suffers from chronic attacks of epilepsy.
Kapoori Bai, 54, lost her husband 1 year after the gas leak while her son has become partially blind.
Basanti Bai, 60, lost her husband to epilepsy while Gulab Bai’s husband and one of her son died immediately after the incident.
Daulat Ram,71, says his young daughter died after suffering from respiratory condition. She was operated at Memorial Hospital where she took her last breath.
Tulsi Ram, 65, lost his young daughter just after the incident. He suffers from respiratory condition which makes me spit blood.
Shehzadi Bee,68, a resident of Bluemoon colony says that though their family survived the incident,but both she and her husband suffer from heart condition. |
| Rajbanti |
 |
| Hunger strike at Jantar Mantar, New Delhi |
 |
| Shehjazi Bee |
 |
| Tulsi Ram |
 |
| Daulat Ram |
These
are the voices of Bhopal disaster survivors who are holding a hunger strike at
Jantar Mantar, New Delhi, on the eve of its 30th anniversary. The
protest is organized by the International Campaign for Justice in Bhopal. They
have come a long way since that dreaded night when over 500,000 people were
exposed to lethal methyl isocyanate, leaked from Union Carbide. Thirty years have passed but its memory still
terrifies those thousands of survivors. December 3, 1984 brought them death,
pain, loss, terror and years of bereavement and despair. Even then justice is delayed, justice is
denied. All survivors have the same story to tell. Everyone has gone through
the same ordeal. Nobody came out of it unscathed. Perhaps only the degree of
their loss differs from one another to some extent.
The
survivors demand nothing more than their much needed compensation which the Union
Carbide and Indian government promised to pay thirty years back. An ex-gratia
compensation of Rs. 1 Lakh was given to only 33, 672 survivors among the 5, 69,
081 people exposed to Union Carbide’s toxic gas while other 93 % victims are
yet get their due. Not only the government is downplaying the damage caused by
Union Carbide , it is also demanding a far lower additional compensation from
the American corporations in the Curative petition, which is only 1.2 billion
dollars instead of at least 8.1 billion dollars. They only want access to clean
water, proper health facilities and basic food items at subsidised rates. Previously
all widows got Vidhva pension which was
of negligible amount, even that has been discontinued according to the widows
present at the hunger strike.
Rajbanti,
52 , lived only half a kilometre away from the factory. She describes her
experience of that night when she suddenly woke up around 3:00 am, as she felt
a burning sensation. She and her family were clueless about what’s happening.
When they realized about the gas leak, their only shield was to cover
themselves with bed sheets and clothes. They didn’t know the fatal consequence
of this gas leak would be either sudden death or life long suffering from
cancer, TB, epilepsy, partial or full blindness and asthma. Her family has seen
it all. Her mother died one year after the incident. When asked how she died,
Rajbanti describes her mother’s condition – “Kala par gayi thi. Ankhon se dekh
nai pati thi” (She turned totally black. She lost her eye sight.) . Both her
father and her sister’s husband silently passed out in their sleep few years
after the incident. Local doctors declared their condition as cardiac failure
or “heart fail” as Rajbanti states. Her husband Ghasiram suffers from extreme
bouts of cough while two her sons have heart condition. Her daughter Kusum recently got her tumour
operated. She ends up declaring that nobody was spared from the gas.
Rajbanti’s
detailed account reverberates in every survivor’s story. They are deprived from all basic amenities. Most children support their sick parent by working as labourers while some childless widows are forced to work as domestic help. Yet their spirits are
undeniably resilient. Their International Campaign for Justice in Bhopal constitutes of
the following NGOs -Peedit Mahila
Stationery Karmchari Sangh,Bhopal Gas Peedit Mahila Purush Sangharsh Morcha,
Nirashrit Pension bhogi Sangharsh Morcha, Bhopal Group for Information and
Action and Children Against Dow Carbide. Rachna Dhingra of BGIA was leading
the water-less strike along with some of the survivors. On 20th
November , after more than a week long protest, The Minister of Chemical and
Fertilizers have agreed to their demands, Rahisda Bee, of the Bhopal Gas Peedit Mahila Stationary Karamchari Sangh, states,
“The Minister has promised full commitment to having scientic data as the basis
for assessment of injury caused by Union Carbide. There is abundant evidence in
medical research and hospital records to show that well over 90% people
suffered injuries that were minor or temporary. They will now be entitled to
Rs. 1 Lakh additional compensation that was denied to them earlier.”
This
victory has come after an immense struggle where the poor impoverished survivors with obdurate sense of justice has
been fighting one of the most richest, powerful and unscrupulous industrial
organizations in the world. Till now the ground water contamination is severe.
Due to lack of maintenance, at times sewage pipes leak into drinking water
pipes supplied by municipality. The
survivors continue dealing with various health problems — including chronic
respiratory problems, vision problems and an increased occurrence of cancer and
birth defects — and an environment that remains contaminated to this day. While
Warren Anderson, Union Carbide’s CEO, continues to evade his punishment, Dow
Chemicals keep on refusing to assume any
additional liability for Bhopal. Nevertheless the recent confirmation from the
Central government of India has boost up the hope of finally getting justice in terms of much needed
compensation, scientific way of categorizing the survivors in order to get
medical benefits and lastly the amendment of Curative petition in order to
speed up the hearing at the Supreme Court.
.JPG)
.jpg)
