BHOPAL GAS TRAGEDY

Presented by:
Bhagya Vijayan
Jr.MSc.Agril.Extension
PALB:3120
 HISTORY OF THE INCIDENT
• Bhopal disaster/ Bhopal gas tragedy:
World's worst industrial disaster
• 2–3 December 1984

• Union Carbide India Limited (UCIL) pesticide plant

, Bhopal, M.P

• 500,000 people - exposed to Methyl

Isocyanate
and other chemicals.

• Official immediate death toll - 2,259

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 History contd.....
• Government of M.P - 3,787 deaths

• According to estimate leak caused

558,125 injuries

38,478 temp. partial injuries 3,900 permt.injuries

• UCIL - Indian subsidiary of Union Carbide Corporation (UCC)

(Indian public holding @ 49.1)

• Dow Chemical Company purchased UCC in 2001, seventeen

years after the disaster.

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 RESPONSE BY THE AUTHORITY

• Company’s medical officer to the doctors:

“The gas is nonpoisonous”,there is nothing to

do except to ask the patients to put a wet
towel over their eyes.”

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Contd.....

Work Manager :
“MIC is only an irritant, it is not fatal. It depends on
how one looks at it. In its effects, it is like tear
gas, your eyes start watering. You apply water and you
get relief.”
• Then chairman: Warren Anderson

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 HEALTH IMPLICATIONS
• Acute symptoms
burning in the respiratory tract & eyes
breathlessness ,stomach pain & vomiting
• Causes of deaths
choking, circulatory collapse &
pulmonary oedema
• Autopsies revealed
cerebral oedema, tubular necrosis ,
degeneration of the liver
• stillbirth rate- 300%
• neonatal mortality rate - 200%

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 ENVIRONMENTAL IMPLICATONS
• The authorities gave out limited information

“the water is safe, but boil it before you drink”;

the “vegetables are safe, but wash them before you cook”;

“the fish is safe”

but promptly closed the fish and meat markets and banned the
slaughter of animals.

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 Contd....
Study by Indian Council Of Agricultural Research
• animals died within 3 min of inhaling the gas
• Official records:
dead animals — cattle,goats, sheep and so on — 1,047
7,000 received therapeutic care

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 List of plants damaged by MIC
Completely damaged Partially damaged Undamaged
Methi (fenugreek Alfalfa Mint
Radish Mustard Cuscuta
Spinach Cabbage Parthenium
Brinjal Cauliflower Wild rice
Tomato Water hyacinth Bougainvillea
Chenopodium Marigold Moringa
Castor Coriander Jamun
Datura Rose Banana
Jasmine Bottlegourd Mango
Calotropis Wild spinach
Lantana Lemon
Ber Guava
Neem
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Source: Indian Council of Agricultural Research
 Contd....

Study by the Central Board for the Prevention and Control of

Water Pollution
• used neem as an atmospheric indicator
• A vegetation damage contour prepared
Sl.no Area(sq.km) around Intensity of damage
the vegetation

1. 3.5 Severely affected

2. 5 badly affected

3. 6 Moderately affected

4. 10.5 Mildly affected

Source: Central Board for the Prevention and Control of Water Pollution 10
 COMPENSATIOS
• M. P government's finance dept. - ₹
874 million , July
1985
• Widow pension - ₹ 200 /per month
• monthly income
Govt began ₹ - ₹ 500 or1500 to
paying
less.
families with
• Interim
morerelief
children attended school
 more money was spent on treatment
 and food
 housing also eventually improved.

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Contd..........

• compensation for personal injury - ₹ 25,000

• death claim- ₹ 62,000

• ByOctober 2003 ,Bhopal Gas Tragedy Relief and Rehabilitation

Department claims that compensation paid
to 554,895 people

• Total compensation- ₹ 15464.7 million

• On 24 June 2010, the Government of India approved a

₹ 12650 million aid package.

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 HOW IT BADLY AFFECTED THE INTERNAL
ECONOMY OF BHOPAL ?
• The Bhopal disaster hit entire families. Their eyes and lungs
badly affected, many of them will never to be able to work as
manual labourers again.
( N Thiagarajan/The Hindustan Times)
• The incident actually toppled the economy rendering so many
people unemployed because of their injuries.

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• rendered so many Bhopali citizens
unemployed - limited income of the
families
• Unable to do work with their restricted
qualifications- limited education
• Career opportunities became narrower - side-
effects of the gas(recurring fatigue)
• Eventually low purchasing power
• Made the marketing industry a poor place for money
to be earned

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• As a result of the gas leak- 75% of Bhopali citizens
are unable to work for more than a few hours

• Only 6.8% of the population can work for any longer

than that.

• unfortunately, only about 5% of the population has

gained employment by the government's efforts.

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% of people engaged in long and short duration work

6.8%

short duration
long duration

93.2%

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 EXAMPLE OF NEGATIVE EXTERNALITY

• Main aim – production of insecticide Sevin

• Culprit – backward integration

Aggrevated the problem

• Corporate Social Responsibility- totally derailed

• Pollution at the zennith

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 LEGAL PROCEEDINGS

• The Indian Government passed the Bhopal Gas Leak Act

in March 1985, to act as the legal representative for
victims of the disaster
• Followed by so many legal proceedings in US

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• GOI claimed - US$ 3.3 billion

• Union Carbide agreed to pay- US$ 470

million (₹ 713crore in
the exchange rate of the day

• In 2010, seven former employees were convicted of

causing death by negligence and each sentenced to two years
imprisonment and fined ₹ 1lakh

• Anderson was released prior to this ,was fined a meagre

amount

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 CONCLUSION :
PEOPLE STILL IN PERILS OF
PAIN?

•received only about one-fifth of the compensation promised to

them under the 1989 agreement

•On an average, each victim has received ₹ 12410

•This DECEMBER 3 rd it will become 3rd decade of waiting for a

fair compensation

•Incredibe India in the race of political supremacy has been ignoring

facts which are crystal clear and which needed immediate
disposal- yes, justice delayed is justice denied

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 REFERENCES
• Johnson S, Sahu R, Jadon N, Duca C (2009). Contamination of soil and
water inside and outside the Union Carbide India Limited, Bhopal.
New Delhi: Centre for Science and Environment. In Down to Earth
• Shrishti (2002). Toxic present—toxic future. A report on Human and
Environmental Chemical Contamination around the Bhopal disaster site.
Delhi
• Varadarajan S et al. (1985). Report on Scientific Studies on the Factors
Related to Bhopal Toxic Gas Leakage. New Delhi: Indian Council for
Scientific and Industrial Research.
• Eckerman, Ingrid (2005). The Bhopal Saga—Causes and Consequences
of the World's Largest Industrial Disaster
• Kulling P, Lorin H (1987). The Toxic Gas Disaster in Bhopal December 2–
3, 1984. Stockholm: National Defence Research Institute.

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THANK
YOU