After 25 years, one of the world’s worst industrial disasters has still not been adequately cleaned up, and the issue is embroiled in a tangle of lawsuits, official denials and finger pointing.

On the night of 3 December 1984, a chemical plant situated in a small town in central India and owned by a US-based company called Union Carbide accidentally released tonnes of methyl isocyanide, MIC, a highly toxic gas, onto a population of more than 500,000 people. The results were so deadly, that the very name of the place has become synonymous with disaster: Bhopal.

Deadly legacy
The numbers of dead from that night are contested. The State Government of Madhya Pradesh confirm that there were 3,787 gas related deaths. But NGOs and civil groups believe that between 8,000 and 10,000 people died within three days of the disaster, that the effects of the gas have claimed an additional 25,000 lives in the quarter century since, and that continuing pollution of the land and water has caused thousands of disabilities and birth defects.

Independent studies have uncovered a plethora of respiratory illnesses, heart disease and gynaecological disorders in the area. And there are also unofficial estimates of thousands of congenital birth defects in the children and grandchildren of disaster survivors.

Generations of survivors
The Chingari Trust was set up by Champa Devi and Rashida Bee, to cater to the unmet needs of the second and third generation of Bhopal’s survivors. The rehabilitation centre works with children up to twelve who were born with mental and physical deformities. They say that the number of deformed and handicapped children born in Bhopal since 1984 is a hundredfold higher than in other towns in India.

Sathyu Sarangi, founder of the Sambhavna Clinic in Bhopal says that Union Carbide allowed hazardous materials to seep into the groundwater that supplies drinking water to 40,000 people.

Listen to an extended interview with Sathyu Sarangi:

In 2000 Union Carbide was bought by Dow Chemicals which in an official response to queries from RNW, says it holds no responsibility for the clean-up of the plant site as it had no relation to Union Carbide at the time of the disaster.

Union Carbide has always claimed that it has completed its responsibility to the victims of Bhopal. The company made a “full and final settlement” of $470 million and say that the responsibility for further action lies with the National and State Government of India.

CLICK HERE TO READ UNION CARBIDE’S OFFICIAL STATEMENT

However, locals vociferously claim that Union Carbide has not fulfilled its obligations to clean up the site, or pay adequate reparation to the victims. They say that the Indian government took years to disperse the $470 million dollar payment and a lot of people missed out even on that minimal sum because they couldn’t provide the paperwork needed.

Statement means little
According to Sathyu Sarangi who has made it his life’s work to fight for the rights of Bhopal gas victims, the settlement made by Union Carbide means little:

"It has meant that more than 94 percent of the victims have received only $500 dollars as compensation for lifelong injuries. It has meant that the families of the dead have received $2000 for each person who died. It has meant nothing in terms of deterrence, and just 43 cents per share for the company leaving it virtually unscathed."

Children's protest
Safreen Khan is a tiny 17-year-old who couldn’t weigh more than 50 kilos. Like her parents and her siblings, she suffers from various ailments caused by the polluted environment and water. She’s easily tired and breathless, but being a child of the Bhopal gas disaster has filled her with fight. She marched 800 kilometres from her home town to Delhi and chained herself to the Prime Minister’s house. Safreen went with a group of young people called Children Against Dow-Carbide. The group of teenagers were arrested and beaten by the police for their action, but remained undeterred.

"We thought the Prime Minister didn’t have a heart, so we thought we must help him find one." said Safreen Khan.

The group went to schools to ask children to make thousands of paper hearts which they presented to the Prime Minister with the message: “If you don’t have a heart, please take these and do justice to the people of Bhopal."

The people of Bhopal feel they are still waiting for justice to be served.

Listen to the voices of the next generation of Bhopal Gas Disaster survivors: