4

Dec

 Bhopal Gas Tragedy : The Govt. was missing on Dec 4

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Amitabh Srivastava

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New Delhi | Wednesday | 4 December 2024

When the Netflix series The Railwaymen won the Best Series award at a magazine programme it stirred quite a few emotions. It is about the efforts of the Indian Railways to save the gas-affected victims of the Bhopal Gas tragedy of  December 1984.

Forty years ago this day I was  in Bhopal. A day earlier the deadly MIC from the Union Carbide plant had leaked killing and maiming thousands of people. People living in  jhuggis near the plant had died in their sleep after the gas entered their modest dwellings .

In Bhopal we found that the government was missing from the scene.

It was the Lions Club volunteers and social workers from other groups who had taken the task of distributing food to victims and carrying bodies to the Hameedia hospital.

Chief Minister Arjun Singh and his colleagues were rumoured to have fled the city even though the gas did not reach their homes in the Shyamala Hills.

 

Article at a Glance
The Netflix series "The Railwaymen," which highlights the Indian Railways' efforts to aid victims of the 1984 Bhopal Gas Tragedy, recently won the Best Series award, evoking strong emotions.
The author recalls being in Bhopal just after the disaster, witnessing the chaos as volunteers stepped in to help victims while government officials reportedly fled. Official death tolls remain disputed, with Amnesty International estimating around 10,000 fatalities.
The series, produced by YRF Entertainment and featuring notable actors like R. Madhavan and Juhi Chawla, portrays the harrowing night when the gas leak occurred, emphasizing the bravery of railway staff amidst the tragedy.
Despite its accolades, the series has faced criticism for not acknowledging key figures like Ghulam Dastgir, who played a crucial role in saving lives. The ongoing toxic legacy of the site and inadequate compensation for victims further underscore the tragedy's lasting impact.

 

There is no clarity about the number of dead. Official figures keep the figures at 3000 dead though Amnesty International puts it at 10,000 dead and lakhs suffering the after-effects of the worst chemical disaster in the world.

A study by the Indian Council of Medical Research tells us that women exposed to MIC, as well as their daughters, are seven times more likely to have children with birth defects than women with no history of exposure.

With these grim statistics sticking out, the series 'The Railway Men: The Untold Story of Bhopal 1984' exhibited at the India International Film Festival in 2023 tells us about the brave efforts of the Indian Railways on that crucial night to save the lives of victims who did not know what had hit them.

The more they ran to escape the pungent gas the more they inhaled it.

The series produced by  YRF Entertainment (the streaming division of Yash Raj Films) and starring R. Madhavan, Kay Kay Menon, Divyenndu and Babil Khan. (Debut film of the son of the late Irfan Khan ) Sunny Hinduja and Juhi Chawla Mehta brought out the efforts of the Railways which were functioning signals because all the staff at the Bhopal station was dead (being in the vicinity of the UC plant).

Talking to the media, Director, Shiv Rawail spoke about the dedication of the cast and crew in ensuring that the right message was being delivered to audiences considering the sensitivity of who the protagonists were portraying. Expressing the same he said, “As producers, directors, writers and actors, it is our responsibility to be sensitive towards the pain because of the emotional attachment a lot of families have with the tragedy”.

Depicting a real-life story in fiction is always very difficult. He mentioned that no stone was left unturned to try and depict the real-life events and although some amount of dramatization is essential taking into account the medium.

The series is embellished by excellent performances by veterans R Madhvan, Kay Kay Menon and Juhi Chawla (in a special appearance). This was also the launching pad for Babil Khan son of late actor Irfan Khan.

But complaints will be there. For instance, the family of Ghulam Dastgir, who was the deputy superintendent of Bhopal railway station during the 1984 gas tragedy and is credited with saving thousands of lives by diverting trains, is unhappy that he has not been acknowledged in the series.

The site of the accident remains toxic. Union Carbide did not complete its clean-up of the surrounding area, and in 1998 the site was handed to the state government. Thousands of tonnes of toxic waste remain buried in the abandoned plant and groundwater is contaminated with heavy metals.

Compensation for the victims has been paltry. In 1989 the Indian government settled with Union Carbide for $470m, a fraction of the $3.3bn it sought, without consulting the victims. This figure was based on the claim that only 3,000 people had died and that little more than 100,000 suffered permanent disabilities. Most survivors received little more than $500; families of the dead got $2,000.

Surviving victims of the gas leak suffer from a host of chronic and debilitating illnesses, including respiratory problems, eye diseases and weakened immune systems. Miscarriage rates quadrupled in the aftermath of the disaster and the risk of stillbirths also rose significantly. One study found that the incidence of cancer among people exposed to the gas.

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