In the last 40 years, more than 30 thousand gas victims have died and 7 lakh people are undergoing treatment. In the hospital opened for gas victims, 7000 gas victims go for treatment every day. 1200 crore rupees were received for the treatment of gas victims, but some say that the money is lying in the Reserve Bank. The general discussion is that the government has invested this money in other works to earn profit. The situation is that neither medicines are available to the patients nor the doctors treating them are getting their salaries on time.
The polluted waste that was accumulated after the leakage of poisonous gas 40 years ago has not been disposed of till date. Earlier, a German company came for disposal. It was ready to dispose of the chemical waste for 50 crores, but it was not given the contract. Now, it is being said that Rs. 126 crore is required to remove the waste of Rs. 35 lakh ton. Currently, the residents of Bhopal are forced to drink poisonous water, due to which a large number of children are suffering from disability and common people are suffering from respiratory diseases.
The biggest question is that in the last 40 years, no official of Union Carbide company or any of the guilty administrative officers has gone to jail. Now the name of the company has also changed, now it is known as Dow Chemicals. Union Carbide Chief Warren Anderson has died at the age of 92. Bhopal's gas victims constantly remember the day when Anderson came to Bhopal after the gas tragedy, he was put under house arrest. Later, on the instructions of the then Chief Minister Arjun Singh, he was released from the airport by the SP-Collector of Bhopal, from where he left for America.
If after 40 years, it is evaluated that who is guilty of this incident? So it becomes clear that the Congress and BJP governments have neither bothered about the health related problems of the gas victims and the citizens of Bhopal nor did they provide proper compensation to the gas victims. In all the courts (Bhopal Court, Jabalpur High Court and Supreme Court), all the cases are going on regarding these issues. It is worth mentioning that the Government of India had taken all the powers in its hands to decide on giving compensation to the gas victims.
25 thousand rupees were given to the gas victims. Not all the gas victims have received compensation even among the gas victims. The 56 gas affected wards of Bhopal were limited to 36 wards. In America, the death compensation is given as 5 lakh dollars (1 dollar = 85 rupees). This means that both the courts of India and America accept the difference of lakhs of times in the value of the life of an American and an Indian citizen.
When I went to the programs of Gas Peedit Mahila Udyog Sangathan on 2 and 3 December 2024, I found that the gas victims there were demanding five times the compensation. When the compensation was given, the value of 1 dollar was 15 rupees, now it has become 85 rupees.
Adv. N.D. Jayaprakash, who is fighting the case on behalf of the gas victims in the Supreme Court, is demanding that the compensation amount be given to each gas victim at today's rate of 7 lakh rupees.
Today, holidays are given in Bhopal as a tribute to the gas victims, government programs are also held. In which apart from the ministers of the government, the Governor also participates. Abdul Jabbar, who fought for the gas victims all his life, used to organize programs continuously in Yadgar-e-Shahjahani Park. Even after his death, the series of programs is continuing but participation has become very limited. The exhibition that was held yesterday and today was seen by 100 to 150 people. There were about 50 youth and children in it who were brought by their elders.
I think we are living in a very insensitive society and world.
The kind of outrage and human response against the massacre of 3 lakh Palestinians by Israel in Palestine is not visible anywhere, as should be seen.
The situation is the same in Bhopal. It seems as if the common citizens of Bhopal have nothing to do with the Bhopal tragedy, whereas the truth is that whoever lives in Bhopal and drinks water here, they are drinking water polluted with toxic waste.
Now the only hope rests on the judiciary. However, this judiciary has not yet ensured health related arrangements for the victims of the gas tragedy, has not made any arrangements for rehabilitation. The legislature (both the Legislative Assembly of Madhya Pradesh and the Parliament of India) has occasionally paid tribute to the people killed in the gas tragedy but has ignored their health, rehabilitation, pollution related problems. The executive simply washes its hands off by saying that whatever instructions come will be followed. The media raised this issue for a long time but today the discussion of the gas tragedy has been limited to December 2-3.
How long will the gas victims have to wait to get justice? How many days will we have to protest and how many gas victims will we have to see die due to lack of treatment? Will the younger generation come forward to face these challenges? This question remains unanswered. How long will we have to wait to get answers to these questions?