Angry survivors and their near and dear ones took out rallies, held public meetings and used many other means to express their agony. A local newspaper gave a very appropriate headline to describe the situation prevailing even today: 'Time heals all wounds but not this one'

Demonstrators charged the state and the central government with total neglect of the victims and also protecting the interests of the guilty American company.

The tragedy happened in the intervening night of December 2 and 3, 1984. According to government's admission, 3000 people died and over a lakh were injured in the disaster. This figure has been consistently challenged by the organisations working for the welfare of the victims. The NGOs claim that more than 30,000 people were killed after inhaling the poisonous gas. Special courts set up to decide the quantum of compensation have compensated 15,000 for death and 5,74,000 for injuries of varying degrees.

Hundreds of survivors and their international and national supporters marched in a rally to the abandoned Union Carbide factory.

The demonstrators were joined by a large number of residents in the vicinity of the factory who are affected by poisoning of ground water from the chemical waste dumped in and around the factory premises. The protestors smeared mud over logos of Union Carbide and Dow Chemical and charged the state and central governments with protecting the interests of the American corporations. They said both governments continue to be deliberately negligent towards the medical care and rehabilitation of survivors and people exposed to contamination.

The protesters said several reports of the Supreme Court Committee for medical monitoring have exposed the miserable state of health care of the survivors. “It is indeed disgraceful that the Central and state governments continue to ignore the recommendations of the Monitoring committee.” said Rashida Bee, president of the Bhopal Gas Peedit Mahila Stationery Karmchari Sangh.

Balkrishna Namdeo of the Bhopal Gas Peedit Nirashrit Pension bhogee Sangharsh Morcha condemned the state government for reintroducing loan schemes as a means to provide economic rehabilitation.

Nawab Khan of the Bhopal Gas Peedit Mahila Purush Sangharsh Morcha said the Centre’s negligence towards the survivors proves its apathy towards the generation of victims born after the disaster.

Releasing a charter of demands of the Bhopal survivors organisations, Satinath Sarangi of the Bhopal Group for Information and Action appealed to put pressure on Union Carbide and Dow Chemicals, besides pressurising governments of USA and India, to end the ongoing disasters in Bhopal.

Every year an all-religion meet is held to remember the gas victims. Addressing the meeting held on December 3 Chief Minister Shivraj Singh Chauhan said that the government and the society were jointly responsible for the treatment and rehabilitation of the victims of the tragedy.

Chauhan said that it was important to maintain a balance between development and respecting the environment, otherwise indiscriminate exploitation of nature could lead to serious consequences.

“We should not forget about safety norms in the wanton race for development', he said, adding that he hoped that the world would not repeat such an incident and keep in mind the extent of the disaster that occurred in December 1984.

At the condolence meeting, representatives of Sanatan Dharm, Islam, Sikhism, Buddhism and Bohra community recited their scriptures and observed a two-minute silence to pay tribute to the victims of the gas tragedy. Home minister Babulal Gaur was also present at the event.

Apart from various diseases, with which the victim are still afflicted, an important problem which still remain unresolved is the disposal of 340 tonnes of toxic waste lying on the premises of the now-defunct factory. It is learnt that the Central Pollution Control Board (CPCB) has readied its report on a trial disposal of the waste, on the basis of which the Supreme Court will lay down the procedure of disposal.

About 340 tonnes of toxic waste is lying at the union carbide plant since years and its disposal had become a cause of concern for the authorities. In April 2014, the Supreme Court had ordered a trial disposal of 10 tonnes of the waste and asked the Board to submit the report, keeping all parameters in the mind. Following the court order, the board carried out the waste disposal on August 14 at the treatment storage disposal facility (TDSF) in Pithampur, about 220 kilometres from the state capital. According to officials, the entire process took five days.

The board would now submit its report to the union ministry of environment and forests (MoEF) shortly which in turn would file it before the Supreme Court which is monitoring the waste disposal. A CPCB official said three agencies had monitored and videographed the process as it involved sensitive parameters and hence the compiling of the report took time.

The entire trial run, right from the shifting of the waste from the plant site to the TDSF, was done clandestinely by the state government to avoid resistance from gas activists and locals at Pithampur, who had been opposing the shifting and incineration of the waste. The presence of the waste has been causing many serious problems including contaminating drinking water. A study conducted by an NGO working for Bhopal Gas Tragedy survivors has found that over 2,500 children in Bhopal are suffering from birth defects. Thirty doctors from different parts of the country have confirmed that of the total children identified by the NGO, over 1,700 were suffering from congenital abnormalities.

The study, conducted by Sambhavana Trust Clinic, also indicates that far too many children were being born with congenital malformations to parents with acute exposure to Methyl Isocyanate (MIC), the toxic gas leaked from the Union Carbide, as compared with those who were not exposed to it.

“We want that the Centre and Madhya Pradesh governments should identify and treat children with congenital malformations born to parents exposed to the tragedy,” Sambhavna’s managing trustee Satinath Sarangi said. The clinic has done the study involving over one lakh people from about 20,000 families. (IPA Service)