Government’s reaction to the Bhopal tragedy

Immediately following the disaster, legal processes between India, Union Carbide, and the US were initiated. In order to advocate victims’ interests in court, the government passed the Bhopal Gas Leak Act in March 1985. The US-based company initially offered India a $5 million relief fund, but the Indian government rejected it and demanded a $3.3 billion settlement instead.
In the end, a settlement outside of court was struck in February 1989, and Union Carbide agreed to pay $470 million in losses.

The Indian Supreme Court also established rules for the money, mandating that the deceased’s relatives get between Rs 100,000 and Rs 300,000. Additionally, individuals who were totally or partially incapacitated were to get between Rs 50,000 and Rs 500,000, while those who had a temporary injury were to receive between Rs 25,000 and Rs 100,000.

Seven former Union Carbide workers, all of whom were citizens of India, were found guilty of causing death by carelessness and given two years in prison in June 2010. They were eventually released on bond, though.

The victims wait for justice. Even if the gas leak alone had been a tragedy, it is tragic that survivors have to wait 37 years for just compensation. According to ND Jayaprakash, co-convener of the Bhopal Gas Peedith Sangharsh Sahayog Samiti (BGPSSS), the Supreme Court-assisted settlement, which was worth Rs. 705 crores on February 14–15, 1989, was predicated on the supposition that just 3,000 people died and 1,02,000 were affected.

An unspeakable catastrophe struck India in the shape of the Bhopal gas leak, which exposed over 5,000 people to methyl isocyanate gas and other very dangerous compounds that found their way into and surrounding the nearby small towns. These substances included carbon monoxide, hydrogen cyanide, and others.

About 40 tonnes of the hazardous gas methyl isocyanate escaped from an insecticide plant controlled by the Indian division of the American company Union Carbide Corporation on the intervening night of December 1-2. The Union Carbide factory in Bhopal’s Plant Number C was the site of the catastrophe. According to accounts, water reached tank number 610, which contained 42 tonnes of methyl isocyanate, and caused the leak (MIC). The outcome was a chemical reaction that went out of control and released extremely dangerous MIC gas into the environment. The gas cloud contained MIC along with other chemicals that were exceedingly hazardous to both humans and animals, such as carbon monoxide and hydrogen cyanide.

The toxic gas escaping from the Union Carbide factory reached the rest of the city as the cold morning breeze picked up speed, killing people both awake and asleep. Estimates from the Madhya Pradesh government place the death toll from the catastrophe in and around Bhopal at 3,787. The true death toll, according to media accounts, is believed to be between 16,000 and 30,000, with up to 500,000 injuries. The massive poisonous gas leak endangered five lakh people.