People's Democracy

20 YEARS AFTER BHOPAL GAS DISASTER

A Living Example Of Imperialist Cruelty

 Sadhna Karnik Pradhan

THE US imperialism has used all kinds of weapons of mass destruction in its long history of wars and military aggressions.  From the use of atomic bombs on Hiroshima and Nagasaki, killing hundreds of thousands, to the use of deadly ‘Agent Orange’ chemical during Vietnam war, to the ongoing massacres in Iraq, the US imperialism’s gory record is apparent to everyone.

Another facet of the imperialist genocide is the chemical warfare on the people’s of the third world launched by profit-hungry, safety-disregarding multinational companies. A living example of this inhumanity is Bhopal – as also numerous other “accidents” like mercury poisoning in Minamata, Japan.

As generation after generation of mentally and physically handicapped persons come into being, the cruel faces of imperialism remain still fresh in the minds of the people.

BHOPAL DISASTER

It is twenty years since one of the worst industrial accidents in history occurred in Bhopal. On the mid night of December 2, 1984, a deadly 40 tonnes of known and unknown poisons emitted from tank no 610 and 611 of the US-based MNC Union Carbide Corporation’s (UCC) pesticide manufacturing unit in Bhopal. It was being run by UCC’s Indian subsidiary Union Carbide India Ltd (UCIL). The whole city was transformed into a gas chamber.

Trying to escape the poisonous cloud, many ran into the streets, where they became blinded and choked to death within minutes. Many more people simply died in their beds.

Till date nearly 25,000 innocent people met a painful death and nearly 5,72,000 were injured in 36 affected wards. Out of these 2 lakh victims are still seriously injured. Directly or indirectly, the entire city had been affected.

The severely affected victims are dying a slow painful death with horrible diseases like cancer, non-curable TB, heart and kidney failures, brain strokes etc. All the systems of their body have been badly affected, including gynaecological and immune system. A large number of people are still suffering from many known and unknown serious symptoms.

It was apparent that something seriously went wrong with the company’s safety measures resulting in the accident. However, the inhuman nature of the imperialist countries MNCs came into play immediately. The Union Carbide claimed that sabotage was the only reasonable explanation for how the protective systems had all failed to perform their function.

This mischievous claim of the company was torn to shreds by an investigation of the accident by two international labor unions that was released in July. It emphatically concluded: "The disaster was caused by insufficient attention to safety in the process design, dangerous operating procedures, lack of proper maintenance, faulty equipment, and deep cuts in manning levels, crew sizes, worker training, and skilled supervision." The union report noted that previous problems at the plant had permitted smaller releases of toxic chemicals.

At the time the disaster occurred, the safety systems of the factory were not working. The siren for warning general public was not working. Only the inner siren for the workers was functioning. Strangely, the percentage of phosgene, a gas used in the Second World War was found higher then required to manufacture methyl iso cyanate (MIC). The plant was grossly undersized and technology used was obsolete, faulty and hazardous. Workers in the plant were under-trained and misinformed.

More shockingly, in 1982 itself the Union Carbide had prior information that if impurities get mixed up in the storage tank of MIC, a big disaster could take place. Not only were the necessary precautions not taken to prevent such an eventuality but also the above fact was suppressed. All this cruelty of the profit-driven MNC cost the people of Bhopal enormous suffering, even till date. Considering the above facts, it can be safely stated that the Bhopal gas disaster seems to be an experiment in chemical warfare carried out by rich countries against poor third world countries like India.

THE REAL ISSUES

The twenty year long struggle of the victims of Bhopal gas disaster has been both projected and misunderstood as a simple issue of some sick dying victims and their fight for justice or an issue concerning relief, rehabilitation and compensation. This is far from reality. The struggle in Bhopal is a struggle against imperialism and against our ruling classes which have openly colluded with the imperialism to deny justice to the victims.

This dirty anti-people collusion has affected various aspects concerning victims lives i.e. treatment, information about poisons, relief, rehabilitation, compensation, pollution etc. Due to this dirty collusion, innocent unconscious victims were thrown in Narmada river in Hoshangabad in a venture to “clean” the city. And the Government of India (GOI) suppressed information about the nature of poisons and the line of treatment required. In fact, the victims have not received the right treatment till date.

The Union Carbide suppressed the horrible fact that since 1969 it had been dumping 10,000 tonnes of deadly poisonous chemicals in and around its factory premises in Bhopal. This dumping has reached the ground water sources in the form of mercury and lead thus poisoning drinking water of Bhopal and its soil. So, the people who inhaled poisonous gases will now have to drink poisonous water as well. The soil of Bhopal is also polluted with the dumped chemicals. Today, the whole environment of Bhopal is polluted.

Due to different PILs filed in the US Courts, including one by the ‘Bhopal Gas Victims Struggle Support Committee in the US’, the Appeal court has recently ordered UCC-DOW to clean the environmental chemical pollution in Bhopal and pay the poisonous water victims compensation for damages to their health and property. Shamefully, the Government of India has taken no legal steps in this country or in US in the above matter.

UNJUST OUT OF COURT SETTLEMENT

The dirty collusion between the Union Carbide Corporation and the Indian government was yet again in evidence in the unjust out of court settlement they reached in February 1989. The Indian government accepted the sum of US$470 million in full and final settlement for the December 1984 poison gas leak. The Indian government had initially claimed US$3.3 billion in damages. The settlement was immediately accepted by the UCC. It is clear by this that the Indian government colluded with imperialism in order to avoid payment of huge amounts by the UCC as compensation to Bhopal gas victims.

This settlement was made on the basis of false figures of victims and a fraudulent medical categorisation, in which 98 per cent of the serious victims were put under medical category “B” which means “affected but cured”. After making the black settlement the government distributed the compensation to 5,72,000 injured and 15,000 death claimants. Thus victims could not get right compensation for damages to their life and employment. And even in this meagre compensation, according to Government of India figures itself, each victim has received 1 to 5 times less than the legal compensation received from the UCC.

The ‘Gas Victims Struggle Support Committee’, formed in Bhopal and Delhi and comprising of different trade unions, mass organisations, employee unions  and NGOs, has challenged the above settlement in the Supreme Court and asked for 4 times more compensation from the Government of India. The Supreme Court has issued notices to the Government of India and the state government in this regard.

This unjust settlement of 1989 has turned the seriously affected victims into beggars as they have lost previous work capacity and jobs. They have spent thousands of rupees during the last 20 years on hopeless medical treatment, lawyers fee, feeding the family, marriages etc. However they got only Rs 15,000 as full and final compensation after deducting the interim relief.

Due to the recent Supreme Court order they will again get the same amount as they previously got as the interest of previous compensation money. However, 20 years after the disaster, the real issues behind the Bhopal tragedy are still awaiting answer even as the victims are dying a painful death, one after another.

Among the major demands of the ongoing struggle in Bhopal is the reversal of the new economic and industrial policies which have facilitated such a disaster and the getting away from any liability. The struggle also demands for a stronger regulatory mechanism to prevent obsolete, faulty and hazardous technologies being forced on third world countries like India; technology transfer by MNCs; monitoring of the location of hazardous industries and its effects on environment; labour laws and working conditions must be monitored through tripartite bodies with workers representation etc.

The Indian parliament has failed to ensure justice to victims from a criminal MNC. How far the Government of India has been able to seek justice by taking all rights of victims through the enactment of Bhopal Act in parliament is another big question.

Meanwhile, in order to evade future liability, the UCC has merged with DOW chemicals in February 2001. The Government of India has not been able to make DOW appear in Bhopal court so far.

On fabricated charges, the US attacked Afghanistan and Iraq though their real intentions were different. On the other hand, the US government is not willing to hand over Warren Anderson, former chairman of UCC, to Indian courts in spite of strong evidence. This is the real double game of US imperialism.

LESSONS OF BHOPAL DISASTER

For those dreaming about development of India through globalisation, privatisation and FDIs, the experience of Bhopal disaster should jolt them to reality. The Bhopal tragedy has made very clear that foreign capital can kill thousands of innocent people, and still get out of the country without any future liability.

So, in the present scenario Bhopal disaster is an issue by which people can understand the real meaning of globalisation. This is the issue which again proves that imperialism is against humanity. Bhopal disaster is an issue that inspires all anti-imperialist forces to wage war against imperialism.

Taking this anti-imperialist struggle forward in Bhopal, at the initiative of ‘Bhopal Gas Victims Support Committee’, a broad-based organising committee has been formed to observe the 20th anniversary of Bhopal gas disaster. This committee comprises representatives of the people, science movements, central trade unions, women, youth, writers’ organisations, employee unions and cultural organisations. A year long campaign, starting from the night of December 2, 2004 will be launched to expose US imperialism and focus on the basic issues behind Bhopal tragedy. With this campaign efforts will be made to unite all sections of society against imperialism and in support of Bhopal gas victims.

A torch-light procession will be taken out on December 2 marking the beginning of the year long campaign. A mass convention will be held on December 3 and December 4 in front of the Union Carbide factory gate in Bhopal, which will present a concrete charter of demands.

November 28, 2004

 (The writer is convenor, Bhopal Gas Victims Support Committee)