BHOPAL, 6 September — Eighteen years later, the tears haven’t stopped. Gasping, wheezing and barely able to walk, thousands of the "living dead", survivors of Bhopal gas disaster, relive their nightmare every day.
President A.P.J. Abdul Kalam visited a special hospital for victims in this central city yesterday to find people still reeling under the effects of one of the world’s worst industrial disasters that killed about 3,000 people outright and thousands more later.
"Those of us who are alive are dying everyday. Only medicines keep us alive," said Shoaib Muhammad Khan, a 21-year-old, taking labored breaths on a hospital bed.
When he was three, Khan was one of the half-million residents exposed to the deadly methyl isocyanate (MIC) gas, tons of which leaked out of US-based Union Carbide’s Bhopal factory on the night of Dec. 2, 1984.
Since then, Khan has been admitted to hospital several times for chronic respiratory problems.
Kalam urged hospitals officials to ensure facilities were made available to survivors.
"Apart from medicines, apart from hospitals, certain human values have to come in a big way to remove the pain," said Kalam during a visit to a hospital built with funds from a trust set up by Union Carbide.
"It’s a continuous process... They need physiological and psychological treatment," said Kalam.
Although the government’s civil case against Union Carbide, which merged with US-based Dow Chemical Co. two years ago, was settled in 1989 for $470 million, criminal cases continue in Indian courts.
An External Affairs Ministry official said yesterday the government is determined to press the United States for the extradition of former Union Carbide Chairman Warren Anderson over the gas disaster. "The government is committed to pursue the request for extradition," an official said. Anderson faces charges of culpable homicide and Indian courts have repeatedly asked New Delhi to seek his extradition from the United States where he now lives in retirement.
"Any time lapse notwithstanding, the government is decided on processing the request for extradition as and when all the evidentiary links are put together," the official said.
Later yesterday Kalam inaugurated Asia’s biggest judicial institution, the National Judiciary Academy of India here.
In his address Kalam expressed concern over growing " religious intolerance." He also deplored justification of violence in the name of religion.
Madhya Pradesh Governor Bhai Mahavir, Chief Minister Digvijay Singh, Chief Justice of India B.N. Kirpal also spoke on the occasion.
