It was a night like none other that mankind had witnessed. Four decades on, survivors are still haunted by memories of that fateful night that saw Bhopal wake up to death, apathy, and infamy.
Eyewitnesses recall the cold winter night that left thousands, if not more, with psychological scars that simply refuse to heal. Tank 610 at the now-defunct Union Carbide pesticide plant leaked a deadly cloud of methyl isocyanate (MIC) gas into the city air on the intervening night of December 2–3, 1984.
Thousands were killed instantaneously, while millions continue to suffer lifelong health maladies in the absence of adequate truthfulness regarding the effects of the highly toxic MIC.
A young Syed Mehfooz, who lived at Fatehgarh adjacent to the Hamidia Hospital where his father worked, remembers, "A small child, barely 2–3 years old, breathed his last in my arms. ""I rushed him to the emergency ward, but he died before we reached. His neck drooped lifelessly to one side. That image still haunts me."
Even today, nearing 60, Mehfooz finds it difficult to forget that night. Suresh Yadav woke up at 2 AM to frantic neighbours banging on his door. "Nobody knew what was happening," he says. He quickly arranged for his neighbour to reach a friend's house in Vidisha and drove his own family to safety outside the city.
When he returned to Bhopal the next day, he found a city engulfed in chaos, with despair etched on every face. Shamim Bano was living near Peer Gate. "I woke up to the screams and chaos," she remembers. "I opened the door and saw people running and shouting, 'Hamla ho gaya!' (something terrible has happened)," she says. Bano immediately shut all the doors and windows, held her two children close, and stayed locked inside until morning. Her husband, a compounder, returned home with medicine for the family. He packed them away but stayed behind to help others, risking his own life to save many.Jagdish Mane was on his late-night shift at Union Carbide when he concluded his duty around midnight. He then began to walk to his house.
"When I left, I heard news of the gas leak. I ran towards Mandideep for my life." His route was similar to that taken by thousands in desperation that night.
The Bhopal Gas Tragedy shattered lives, polluted the environment, and raised critical questions about corporate accountability. Survivors, bearing physical and emotional scars, continue to live with the memories of that horrific night, their lives forever altered.
Even if the distribution of firewood to the poor has been discontinued, the use of both wood and coal continues unchecked at eateries and wedding venues in the state capital.The burning of these fuels has long remained a challenge for administrations across the world as they struggle to find a balance between populism, poverty, and the control of pollution.
