40th anniversary of Bhopal gas tragedy
New Delhi, 27 November 2024: Four organizations of survivors of one of the world’s worst industrial catastrophes, the 1984 Union Carbide gas disaster in Bhopal, have announced their plans for commemorating its 40th anniversary on December 2 and 3.
Speaking for the group, Balkrishna Namdeo from the Bhopal Gas Peedit Nirashrit Pensionbhogee Sangharsh Morcha, said the main focus will be on corporate crime – on how it threatens the very survival of planet earth. The anniversary rally will highlight industrial pollution and climate change, with specific focus on the current status of actions relating to the 1984 disaster. “Victims of corporate crime from India and abroad will participate in the 40th anniversary rally,” he said.
Adding, Rachna Dhingra of Bhopal Group for Information and Action, said, “We will be joined by some of the key first-responders to the disaster of December 1984, including the senior most doctor at the Emergency ward, a Forensic specialist who carried out the most autopsies, and persons involved in mass burials. They will narrate their memories of the morning of the disaster.”
Nawab Khan, President of Bhopal Gas Peedit Mahila Purush Sangharsh Morcha, said that the commemoration would, among other things, emphasise that exact information about casualties and health impacts of the disaster remain unavailable, even after 40 years.”
As a run up to the anniversary programme, artists from within and outside the country have painted murals on the walls of Union Carbide factory. “We will hold poster exhibitions covering all aspects of the disaster and other programmes till December 4”, said Rashida Bee, President of the Bhopal Gas Peedit Mahila Stationery Karmchari Sangh, a trade union of women survivors of the disaster.
