Bhopal: The iconic statue of a woman with a child on her lap gasping for breath some 200 meters away from Union Carbide factory’s boundary wall in JP Nagar colony, encapsulates the pain and agony of every 1984 Bhopal gas tragedy victim.
It is a memorial dedicated to the victims by a Dutch sculptor Ruth Waterman, during a visit to Bhopal in 1985 and speaks volumes of the trauma and miseries endured by the victims.
The gas leak tragedy happenned on the intervening night of December 2 and 3 in 1984 when the people were fast asleep on a winter night in Madhya Pradesh’s capital Bhopal.
Even before the city could wake up to a fresh morning, people living in colonies surrounding the carbide factory, had to run to save their lives amid shouts of “bhago- bhago, gas leak ho gayee hai” (run-run, gas is leaking).
Within the next few hours, before the Sun rose, many were lying unconscious or breathless, while others who were alive were still running aimlessly to escape the highly toxic methyl isocyanate gas that leaked from a tank in the Union Carbide factory located in JP Nagar, the area now known as old Bhopal.
Sixty-year-old David (he goes by a single name), who lived hardly 200 meters away from the boundary wall of the factory, had a lot to share with IANS. Many of his descriptions seemed nothing less than a horror movie scenario.
His father, one of the employees of Union Carbide factory, was on duty at the site when the tragedy occurred. “My father lost his vision. His lungs were completely damaged and he died after three months at a hospital. He, along with many other workers, had left from the northwest side of the factory. Three days later, he was found struggling for life in a government hospital,” a choked David shared.
As many as 36 wards were bracketed as “gas affected areas” by the authorities. The tragedy affected over five lakh people in the city. Nearly every soul in the populated residential colonies faced the horror and has a tale to tell.
Eighty-year-old Bano Bi, who lost her husband and a brother-in-law in the tragedy said: “Around 2 p.m., I smelt a foul odour and along with it came a bout of coughing never experienced before. To beat the discomfort I stepped out. As I opened the door of my house, I choked and was breathless”.
“People were running helter skelter, screaming, crying. Immediately, I hastened back to my room only to find my husband coughing relentlessly. I caught his hand and dragged him out. After running for nearly 30 minutes, I collapsed and regained consciousness in a hospital ward. I could meet my family only after three months. Sadly, my husband passed away 6 months after the incident and my troubles continue.”
