26 Years of Blindness

Bhopal Gas Tragedy, which took 15,000 lives and still continuing to affect the natives, was the worst ever man made industrial calamity in the history of the world. Union carbide India Limited used to produce a pesticide named carbaryl which used Methyl Isocynate as a raw material.

The UCIL was running in a loss since 1980. The poor economic condition of the firm halted its production. This led to use of MIC which was cheap but more hazardous. Company started reducing it's expenses. The workers were asked to ignore the poor conditions and not to demand for the maintenance. Halting of the promotions, salary cuts and termination of the employees; seriously affected their morale and led to the escape of some of the most skilled and trained workmen.

The UCIL was not maintained properly. The tanks, pipes and other equipments used during productions were corroded and damaged. These always led to small incidents of leakage but they went unnoticed giving way to the December 3, 1984 leakage swallowing 15,000 lives.

Now, the question is who was responsible for this incident? recently seven ex-employees,  including the former chairman of UCIL, were convicted in Bhopal for causing death by negligence and sentenced to 2 yrs imprisonment. There is much hue and cry in media as to who was responsible for the escape of Warren Anderson, the then CEO of UCIL, being regarded as the main convict.


If we apply a bit of logical thinking apart from being emotional, we can see through the dust which settled in our minds in last 26 years. Warren Anderson was just a toy in the hands of Union Carbide Corporation of U.S. He must have been under their pressure to ignore the poor conditions and keep the production on. UCIL, which was 50.9% under UCC's control and 49.1% under Indian investor's control kept on deteriorating after 1980. If the UCC was creeping in silence, why did the Indian investors kept mum? Why they never came forward and spoke to UCC.

When we work in an office we are guided by our bosses, we just can't act according to our wishes. The ex- employees, accused of negligence were people without power. If we really want justice, we should drag the owners, both of UCC and their Indian counterparts to the court and seek an explanation as to why they didn't stop the production when there was no fund.

The major issue in not about the escape of Warren Anderson or the involvement of Rajeev Gandhi and other politicians in his escape. The major issue is the loss of lives and the suffering which this calamity brought. Why always Indian media and eventually Indian mass related everything to politics? Maybe because we have developed an attitude of seeking political answers to every question.

Whatever be the decision of court, it can never pay back the losses incurred on the people. And at least, after 26 years of the tragedy there is no point accusing or punishing anyone. But this is how we think as a nation and work as a nation and that is why we never learn from our past experiences.