“We have spent a lot of money on my medical treatment…Sometimes we don’t even have 5 or 10 rupees for tea or medicines. I was very healthy before the gas…After the gas, it has been cough and breathlessness, cough and breathlessness. Sometimes it would go away and I would think that I would get better…Every three months, every three months, I come to this hospital…I have injections here, and pills and I take oxygen. Oxygen has the most effect.” – Raes Mohammad, victim of Bhopal gas tragedy, 1984 (Clouds of Injustice, Bhopal Disaster 20 Years On, Amnesty International Publications 2004)

It has been nearly 30 years since a toxic gas leak from a Union Carbide factory in Bhopal caused catastrophic damage.

One of the world’s worst industrial disasters, the Bhopal gas leak killed more than 22,000 people, and almost 5.7 lakh people were exposed to damaging levels of the toxic gas. Many in Bhopal still suffer from serious health problems and pollution from the abandoned factory site continues to threaten the health of surrounding communities.

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[In Photos] 30 Years After The Bhopal Disaster, People Ask #WhereArtDOW
YouthKiAwaaz.com
September 29, 2014
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This post brought to you by Amnesty International India.

By Makepeace Sitlhou:

“We have spent a lot of money on my medical treatment…Sometimes we don’t even have 5 or 10 rupees for tea or medicines. I was very healthy before the gas…After the gas, it has been cough and breathlessness, cough and breathlessness. Sometimes it would go away and I would think that I would get better…Every three months, every three months, I come to this hospital…I have injections here, and pills and I take oxygen. Oxygen has the most effect.” – Raes Mohammad, victim of Bhopal gas tragedy, 1984 (Clouds of Injustice, Bhopal Disaster 20 Years On, Amnesty International Publications 2004)

bhopal2

It has been nearly 30 years since a toxic gas leak from a Union Carbide factory in Bhopal caused catastrophic damage.

One of the world’s worst industrial disasters, the Bhopal gas leak killed more than 22,000 people, and almost 5.7 lakh people were exposed to damaging levels of the toxic gas. Many in Bhopal still suffer from serious health problems and pollution from the abandoned factory site continues to threaten the health of surrounding communities.

bhopal3

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Miles away, here in Bangalore, walking by the busy intersection of Brigade and MG road, we asked a few people if they knew about the Bhopal gas tragedy. Most people knew about the tragedy, even if remotely.

It was quite effortless to get a passersby to show solidarity for the Bhopal survivors and injustice. Wearing a gas mask, they held up a poster asking #WhereArtDOW. At that moment, I felt proud to be amidst people who readily stood up for others miles away, who have been denied justice, denied their rights to safety, dignity and health; for 30 long years.

In 1987, the Government of India brought criminal charges of “culpable homicide not amounting to murder” against Union Carbide India Limited, its US-based parent company Union Carbide Corporation (UCC), and individuals from the US and India including then-UCC chairman Warren Anderson.