TOXIC LEGACY LINGERS

40 YEARS OF BHOPAL GAS TRAGEDY

- Rahul Noronha

The night of December 2, 1984, remains etched in public memory as one of the world's worst industrial disasters. Bhopal, the city, became a synonym for unforgivable human folly. Men, women and children ran through the bylanes of the old city, choking and blinded by a cloud of poisonous Methyl Isocyanate gas leaking from the pesticide plant of the American corporation Union Carbide. Complaints of burning eyes, breathlessness, nausea and abdominal cramps overwhelmed the Madhya Pradesh capital's modest medical infrastructure within hours. By morning, thousands were dead and hundreds of thousands suffered injuries that would last a lifetime. Four decades later, victims and their families are still waiting for closure on multiple fronts.