The Bhopal Gas Tragedy that occurred on the night of 2nd December 1984 is considered to be the worst industrial disaster in history. Around 5, 00,000 people were exposed to MIC, around 3800 died and 16000 claimed.
In my opinion, this was a tragedy that could have been avoided and the ignorance of the red flags makes it worse. This was not a sudden accident. A journalist, Rajkumar Keswani published an article in the newspaper predicting the tragedy and wrote letters to the government and the court, pleading for actions to resist a mishap. On 16th October 1992, the Supreme Court directed the Reserve Bank of India to avail ₹1482 crore to the government of Madhya Pradesh as grief compensation, but even after waiting for three years of the judgment, the grief remained only on the papers. It can be said that the red tape and corruption delayed the compensation.
We need to address the truth, that we are living in a country where most of the work, activities, and events are swallowed by corrupt people. It’s really unfortunate that even in the time of grief, the mediators did not abstain from taking away a huge percentage of the compensation money.
From 1987 to 1991, only 75% of Bhopal’s population then, which was 3.61 lakh out of 6.40 lakh were examined and the process abruptly stopped after the year 1991. And out of the 3.61 lakh examined people, only 2.04 lakh were classified as injured. The number of deaths confirmed by the government was 3,828. The government divided the residents into four categories: Dead, permanently injured, temporarily injured, and not injured. There were 40 claimants in a total of a permanent injury. The lack of medical data was also one of the reasons why every victim could not get adequate compensation. The government refused to acknowledge 1.05 lakh children who were exposed to the toxic gas and the newborn who came into the world with exposure to the deadly poison were not even considered.
In 2004, dollars turned into more than 3000 crore Indian rupees. But according to a press release, the number of victims swelled up to 5.73 lakh, so each victim got only one-fifth of the promised compensation. But we all know what is true. It is really sad that whenever something important takes place in the country be it voting for elections or vaccinating people to be immune against the coronavirus, corruption has always made a cameo.
The families of the dead and those who are permanently injured are still awaiting justice and an adequate amount as grief compensation. It’s better late than never, so sooner or later, may justice prevail.
