Thousands of Bhopal victims are yet to get promised help
On December 3, 1984, when a cloud of lethal methyl isocyanate gas leaked from Union Carbide's pesticide plant in the city, Samina Khan was barely three years old.
This weekend, Bhopal residents marked the 27th anniversary of the tragic night when the world's worst-ever industrial accident condemned so many among them to lives of never-ending pain. People numbering 3,787 are officially admitted to have died as a direct consequence of the gas leak; several thousand others are estimated to have been killed by illness attributable to the toxic exposure. In 2006, the government said 5,58,125 people were injured, 3,900 of them severely.
Samina, now 30, is one of those people. She continues to struggle with total renal failure. In January this year, there appeared to be a change in things. Her mother agreed to donate a kidney for transplant surgery; Mohammad Nafees, her brother, happily sold off his shop six months ago to raise part of the money for the operation. The rest, he hoped, would come from Rs.2 lakh promised as compensation to Samina, and to others like her, by a Group of Ministers led by Union Home Minister P. Chidambaram. But it hasn't come yet — and though Nafees remains obstinately hopeful, it never may. There are over 9,000 applications for compensation from gas victims affected with cancer and total renal failure, or TRF — applications the State government concedes are legitimate. The Ministers had, however, allotted funds only for 2,000 cancer and 1,000 TRF cases.
“We are doing the best we can,” says B.B. Shrivastava, Additional Commissioner responsible for gas relief and welfare, “with what we have.” The compensation arrived at by the GoM was based on tentative figures and so we have written to them about including all the 9,720 applications, which are legitimate.”
Mr. Shrivastava says his office has already identified 1,500 beneficiaries for cancer treatment, and disbursed funds to about 500 of them.
Keywords: Bhopal gas tragedy, methyl isocyanate, Union Carbide
With corruptions rotting the very roots of our society, how do we expect the government to help the gas victims. Its the Union carbide firm who is responsible for such a tragedy and its their responsibility too to help the victims of gas tragedy. The government can initiate steps in this way, at least.
As a country, we have yet not able to cope with this tragedy. I don't think we have learned
anything from this. Though Mullaperiyar dam is 116 years old, the governments are yet to
make up their mind about building a new one, though the consequences will be many times
more than the Bhopal tragedy. We have little value for human life!
It was an experiment that brings the tragedy poor people would
never know that and truth never come out that is the tragedy of
our country it is happening since last 200-300 hundreds of years.
It is very sad to notice that govt can't spend on medical expenses of
about 7000 people when at same time lakhs of crore of public money is
lying in tax heavens.when we cannot compensate an accident which took
place 26 years ago.it puts an important question that can we do any
positive help to people if any disaster take place at our nuclear
facilities.
This is what the state hands over to the victims while the Union Carbide chairman Warren Anderson was given the VVIP treatment. What a shame.
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