The Bhopal Gas Tragedy - who was responsible ??

"Around 1 a.m., I started coughing. My eyes started burning. As I stepped out, it started burning even more"

“I felt being choked. Waking up, I saw a huge black cloud of smoke in my room. Unable to understand, I hugged my two children tightly in my arms and ran outside, leaving all my belongings behind. I tried to save my children but darkness soon enveloped everything. I started vomiting felt giddy and lost consciousness. Next day when I woke up, I was partially blind, my eyes were itching and my husband and son were dead. That frightening night brought a lot of suffering in my life”

This is the experience of people who fortunately (say ‘unfortunately, because they could never achieve normal health levels afterward) survived the Bhopal Gas Tragedy in 2-3 December 1984.

Introduction

In the early morning hours of December 3, 1984, a poisonous grey cloud (forty tons of toxic gases) from Union Carbide India Limited (UCIL's) pesticide plant at Bhopal spread throughout the city. Water carrying catalytic material had entered Methyl Isocyanate (MIC) storage tank No. 610. What followed was a nightmare.

The Bhopal disaster was an industrial catastrophe that took place at a pesticide plant owned and operated by Union Carbide India Limited (UCIL) in Bhopal, Madhya Pradesh, India on December 3, 1984. Around 12 AM, the plant released Methyl IsoCyanate (MIC) gas and other toxins, resulting in the exposure of over 520000 people.

During the night of December 2–3, 1984, large amounts of water entered tank 610, containing 42 tones of methyl isocyanate (MIC). The resulting exothermic reaction increased the temperature inside the tank to over 200 °C (392 °F), raising the pressure to a level the tank was not designed to withstand. This forced the emergency venting of pressure from the MIC holding tank, releasing a large volume of toxic gases into the atmosphere. The reaction sped up because of the presence of iron in corroding non-stainless steel pipelines. A mixture of poisonous gases flooded the city of Bhopal, causing great panic as people woke up with a burning sensation in their lungs. Apart from MIC, the gas cloud contained poisonous gases such as phosgene, hydrogen cyanide, carbon monoxide, hydrogen chloride, oxides of nitrogen, MonoMethyl Amine (MMA) and carbon dioxide, either produced in the storage tank or in the Atmosphere.

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Timeline, summary

 At the plant

· 21.00 Water cleaning of pipes starts.

· 22.00 Water enters tank 610, reaction starts.

· 22.30 Gases are emitted from the vent gas scrubber tower.

· 00.30 The large siren sounds and is turned off.

· 00.50 The siren is heard within the plant area. The workers escape.

 Outside

· 22.30 First sensations due to the gases are felt suffocation, cough, burning eyes and vomiting.

· 1.00 Police are alerted. Residents of the area evacuate. Union Carbide director denies any leak.

· 2.00 The first people reached Hamidia hospital. Symptoms include visual impairment and blindness, respiratory difficulties, frothing at the mouth, and vomiting.

· 2.10 The alarm is heard outside the plant.

· 4.00 The gases are brought under control.

· 6.00 A police loudspeaker broadcasts: "Everything is normal".

Some facts:-

The killer gas spread through the city, sending residents scurrying through the dark streets. No alarm ever sounded a warning and no evacuation plan was prepared. When victims arrived at hospitals breathless and blind, doctors did not know how to treat them, as UCIL had not provided emergency information.    

It was only when the sun rose the next morning that the magnitude of the devastation was clear. Dead bodies of humans and animals blocked the streets, leaves turned black, the smell of burning chili peppers lingered in the air.

The Tragedy killed 4000 immediately, 10000 within 72 hours and more than 25000 have died since then. Others who survived had one or other disabilities or diseases. Even the children born after that war affected with varying degree of birth defects.

The pesticide factory was built in the midst of densely populated settlements. UCIL chose to store and produce MIC, one of the most deadly chemicals (permitted exposure levels in USA and Britain are 0.02 parts per million), in an area where nearly 120,000 people lived.

The MIC plant was not designed to handle a runaway reaction. When the uncontrolled reaction started, MIC was flowing through the scrubber (meant to neutralize MIC emissions) at more than 200 times its designed capacity. MIC in the tank was filled to 87% of its capacity while the maximum permissible was 50%.

MIC was not stored at zero degrees centigrade as prescribed and the refrigeration and cooling systems had been shut down five months before the disaster, as part of UCC's global economy drive.

Vital gauges and indicators in the MIC tank were defective. The flare tower meant to burn off MIC emissions was under repair at the time of the disaster and the scrubber contained no caustic soda.

As part of UCC's drive to cut costs, the work force in the Bhopal factory was brought down by half from 1980 to 1984.

This had serious consequences on safety and maintenance. The size of the work crew for the MIC plant was cut in half from twelve to six workers.

In February 1989, the Supreme Court announced that it was approving a settlement for Bhopal victims under which Union Carbide agreed to pay Rs 713 crore for compensation to victims, while the government agreed to drop all criminal cases against it. However, due to intense public shock and anger at letting off the culprits, the court agreed to reopen the criminal cases in 1991. nearly 20,000 people have died, and 5.7 lakh have suffered injuries. The compensation amount — Rs 713 crore, paid by Union Carbide — was meant for about 1 lakh persons but has been distributed among nearly 6 lakh people. Of the Rs 713 crores, Rs 113 crores was for loss of livestock and property. The balance Rs 600 crore distributed among 5.74 lakh persons works out to about Rs 12,410 per victim on average. In contrast, in the Uphaar tragedy in Delhi, families of those who died got between Rs 15 lakh to Rs 18 lakh each, while injured persons got Rs 1 lakh each. In addition, they got interest at the rate of 9% per annum for the roughly six years that the legal proceedings took.

Who was responsible??

          In my opinion this is a system failure i.e. company, govt. of India, our judiciary   all fails.

          Company neglects the govt. safety guidelines; reduce labour so putting additional stress on workers, not informing the public about gas leak, doing production in dangerous manner, no evacuation plan and for many reasons given above. Govt. of India is responsible as it allow company to establish in populated area even after knowing that the gas is dangerous to health, before giving license it does not check whether is full fill all the safety requirements etc. last but not leas Indian judiciary system for making Indian life so cheap Rs. 12,410. So I feel that all are responsible.

What do you think?????