1 9 8 4 R e d u x Bhopal’s Slow Leak

A quarter century after the worst chemical spill in history, an ugly legacy affects both Bhopalis and Dow Chemical

Jacob Resneck

hey came with rocks. They the area, were furious, even accusing notes that Dow completed its pur- came with iron bars, sticks the neighbouring state of Gujarat of chase of Union Carbide after the T and petrol. They toppled scaf- planting agent provocateurs in the company had divested itself of the folding, tore out timber frames and village to steal the 300 jobs Indian subsidiary that had owned wrecked foundations. Then with promised by Dow. and operated the Bhopal plant. petrol and kerosene carried in jerry But this David-and-Goliath story But the stigma that Dow inherit- cans, they set the wreckage alight. of a farming village of 2,200 people ed in India lives on. That July morning as the summer defeating a petrochemical company Perhaps that’s one reason why heat bore down on the village of that last year boasted $57.5 billion the building site in Maharashtra Shinde – about 30 kilometres from in sales has a back story. It begins never bore the Dow logo and the Pune in the state of Maharashtra – more than 800 kilometres away, in company’s presence wasn’t known hundreds of Warkari devotees razed the state of Madhya Pradesh. until it had been triumphantly a Dow Chemical Corporation build- announced during a joint statement ing site, slated to be a research and n India, the name Union Carbide by Dow and Chief Minister Vilasrao development centre. is synonymous with mass death. Deshmukh, who said the project “All the machines were burned ITwenty-five years ago, Union would put “this small village on the down,” recalls 57-year-old Vilas Carbide Corporation’s pesticide global R&D map”. Sonawane, a leader of the Lok plant in Bhopal leaked tons of poiso- Bhopal is still haunted by the night Shasan movement that opposes nous gas that killed thousands. The a tank holding more than 40 tons of Dow. “Then there was a godown, the disaster stands alongside nuclear methyl isocyanate (MIC) at a pesti- godown was burnt down. That is meltdowns like Three Mile Island cide plant in the urban centre rup- how it took place.” and Chernobyl as one of the greatest tured, spewing tons of toxic gases that The violence terminated a bitter man-made calamities ever. killed more than 3,000 overnight and standoff. Villagers and Warkari pil- And Sonawane, the activist, was- maimed thousands more in the early grims united against the police pro- n’t scared to point out this connec- hours of December 3, 1984. tecting Dow’s expansion into the tion to villagers. “We told them it More than two decades later, sur- rural Chakan district. was quite possible that Bhopal vivors of that horrific night and their Work has been halted since maybe could happen again if this kin continue to suffer from health January 2008 when local villagers company is situated here,” effects and seek justice from the boycotted the workers at the site, Sonawane says. “The villagers were company and their government. refusing to sell them food or provide convinced; they were really scared.” Many claims they have been cast off water. The destruction on July 25, Since Dow completed its takeover as collateral damage in India’s drive 2008 was the work of hundreds of of Union Carbide in 2001 it’s found to industrialise and court interna- Warkaris, devotees to a 17th century itself tainted with the past sins of its tional investment. Hindu sect who make an annual subsidiary; a connection that com- pilgrimage to the area during the pany continues to deny. ll that’s left of the pesticide lunar month of Aashadha. They “Dow never owned or operated plant is a rusting hulk — were convinced the building was too the Bhopal plant, Dow does not have A more a menagerie than an close to sacred sites. responsibility for any issues pertain- industrial site. The gates are marked Officials in Maharashtra, long ing to Bhopal,” says Dow spokesman with graffiti in Hindi, English, even champions of Dow’s expansion into Scot Wheeler via e-mail. Wheeler Spanish, crying out for justice for

16 The Caravan, November 2009 Witness to history: The plant that leaked tons of Methyl Iso Cyanate on a winter night in December 1984 lies abandoned today.

The Caravan, November 2009 17 the people of Bhopal. Nature has spent the past quarter century reclaiming the sprawling site. Trees, vines and other creepers snake their way around the shell of the plant that produced Sevin, a commercial pesticide for India’s farmers. Only the buzz of insects and music from the surrounding bostis — which bore the brunt of the toxic cloud — can be heard around the rusting frame that remains at the epicentre of the world’s deadliest industrial disaster. TR Chouhan went to work for Union Carbide India Ltd. in 1975 to manufacture Sevin. As a plant oper- ator, he earned about Rs. 400 a month, a decent salary for Bhopal. Like many UC workers, he’d relocat- ed from a smaller town in Madhya Pradesh looking for an opportunity to use his education. Chouhan is a dapper man. A for- mer plant operator with a bachelor’s degree in chemistry from Bhopal University, the 55-year-old looks the part of an engineer. Tall and slim with a pressed shirt, he’s careful and deliberate whether explaining the reaction process of MIC or lighting a pair of bidi cigarettes. Pointing to one side, Chouhan shows how napthol was delivered in solid form and pounded by labour- ers who would empty gunny sacks of the poisonous powder into vats to be mixed in the production process.

Labourers breathed these toxic AP Images fumes on a daily basis. It was Many gas-exposed children are still suffering respiratory problems in adulthood deemed cheaper and more expedi- ent than a mechanical process prone Carbide insists that it was sabotage. to a toxic release, he argues. to breaking down. Plant managers To this day, the company blames a Instead, Chouhan blames a cata- had done their arithmetic: unskilled lone disgruntled worker deliberately logue of cost-cutting procedures by labour cost less than automating pouring water into a tank holding 42 the plant’s management that dis- this hazardous work. tons of MIC that started the run- abled safety measures, making the But the risks faced by plant work- away reaction. accident inevitable. ers have long been overshadowed by To former plant operators like “This theory is totally wrong,” the gas leak itself. Thousands died in Chouhan – an invaluable informant Chouhan says of the sabotage claim. a matter of hours. for the Central Bureau of He explains that if plain water had Investigation’s criminal case against been poured directly into the tank – hat exactly happened the company – this theory is both as Union Carbide claims – then the leading up to the evening insulting and preposterous. No runaway reaction process would W of December 2, 1984, has worker would willingly expose have taken 23 hours. long been contentious. Union himself and the community “But on that night the reaction

18 The Caravan, November 2009 Many animals near the plant reportedly died within minutes of the explosion completed within two and a half tank acting as a catalyst that sped government. Untold numbers hours,” he continues. “That is up the exothermic reaction. The burned in pyres or were shovelled not possible if you put water result was a release of pressure and into mass graves with heavy equip- into the tank.” toxic gases. The plant’s safety sys- ment, depending on their religion. tems had been disabled for econom- Doctor Subodh Varshney heads aintenance logs show that ic reasons but even if they hadn’t the gastrointestinal department at routine water-washing of been, this toxic release exceeded Bhopal Memorial Hospital but 25 Mthe plant’s lines began at anything the plant had been years ago he was one of scores of about 8:30 pm on December 2. designed to handle. medical students pressed into ser- Failure to isolate the tanks using “Ultimately, they bypassed so vice that night to work in the city metal discs – known as slip-blinds – many safety systems,” Chouhan hospitals that were collapsing from meant that water was able to back- says. “They concentrated on the pro- masses of dead, dying and pan- wash from clogged lines into a mal- duction of Sevin.” icked people. functioning tank that was not hold- There was no disaster plan to The official death toll, he says, is ing pressure. Because of the lack of warn the community that night. By still incomplete. pressure, gallons of water were able all accounts, civil response was “These [3,000 people] were the to seep into this tank holding 42 nonexistent for several days as deaths in institutions. Those that tons of MIC. This started a chemical mass panic reigned and people died on the road, they were taken reaction that burst just past mid- were left to fend for themselves – away directly for mass burial. night on December 3rd. and each other. I am sure nobody could Chouhan posits that the rapid The horrors of December 3 have have calculated that.” runaway reaction was accelerated been thoroughly reproduced in After passing legislation that by impurities caught up in the lines books, articles, radio broadcasts and made it the sole advocate for vic- – iron rust and sodium compounds documentary films. The death toll tims, the Indian government filed a mostly – that were washed into the was estimated to be 3,000 by the claim in New York against Union

The Caravan, November 2009 19 Carbide for more than $3 billion. He says several handshake agree- believed that it was sabotage but The case was rejected by a New York ments between the company and they talked a lot about the victims.” judge on condition that the company prime minister unravelled when This view is reiterated submit to the laws of India and word leaked to the press. on www.bhopal.com website, appear to answer whatever charges Mesquita, who wrote his 1971 which contains the company’s were filed in Bhopal. doctoral dissertation on Indian poli- version of events. The case was transferred to tics, says the government was loathe While the Supreme Court and Madhya Pradesh Court in Bhopal to come down too hard on a multi- Indian government claimed they but negotiations continued to reach national like Union Carbide. At the rushed to settle on the cheap to mit- an out-of-court settlement. Union same time, they faced intense politi- igate the ongoing plight of survivors, Carbide ultimately agreed to pay cal pressure to push for justice. it wasn’t until 1992 that the first $470 million to the Government of Mesquita interviewed a collection claims were processed and cash India in return for a release of all lia- of US and Indian experts and then reached the people of Bhopal. The bility – civil and criminal – related fed the problem into his computer, payments were miserly by modern to the disaster. which spit out a likely solution. “My standards – the settlement of 1989 The settlement was based on a model said they could have settled envisioned Rs.1 to 3 lakh per death; calculation of around 105,000 gas- for as little as something like $350 Rs. 50,000 for permanent affected people including 3,000 million, provided they gave Rajiv disability; Rs. 25,000 for partial dis- dead. Yet after adjudication more Gandhi the right political cover,” ability and downwards to Rs. 10,000 than 574,000 claims were processed Mesquita recalls in a telephone for loss of livestock. and awarded. The vast majority interview from New York. This was based on a count of received initial payouts of just Rs. Mesquita ultimately advised 105,000 gas-affected people – 25,000 per person. Union Carbide to draft a settlement including 3,000 dead. But by the The Indian government’s abrupt between $350 million and $3.2 bil- time claims were processed, more and relatively paltry settlement has lion that could be announced by an than 574,000 cases were found to be long been a source of continued outside party to deflect the heat gas-affected and eligible for com- anger and confusion in Bhopal. from the prime minister. pensation. Because of the height- One academic in New York may On February 14, 1989, Chief ened casualties, the settlement was be able to offer at least part Justice Rajinder S Pathak spread very thinly. The average pay- of the answer. announced a $470 million settle- out for personal injury hovered just ment that he said would be in the above the court-stipulated mini- ruce Bueno de Mesquita best interests of the victims who mum of Rs. 25,000. uses computer models to had not - more than four years since Corruption was also endemic at Bpredict outcomes of complex the disaster – received a single all levels. Desperately poor gas vic- negotiations. A political science paisa in relief. tims paid thousands of rupees to professor at New York University, “They followed the coalition lawyers and fixers to navigate the he consults for firms facing serious strategy that I designed,” Mesquita Byzantine system of claims. bargaining dilemmas. says, “that was really the main focus, Others encountered outright graft He recently published The assembling a coalition and then get- on the bench. Predictioneer’s Game that explains ting the deal announced by someone his method of using game theory to seen as a prestigious neutral party.” arita Dubey was 12 years old at identify the self-interest of negoti- Mesquita says that throughout the time of the leak. She and ating parties and then plots the the negotiations Union Carbide Sher family lived six kilometres most likely outcome through a executives actually appeared con- away but felt the effects that night computer model. cerned for the welfare of the victims. and continue to have breathing In 1988, his firm Polycon was Previous offers to build and staff a trouble, she says. She and her moth- retained by Union Carbide to help to hospital and other forms of direct er filed claims for compensation and model a favourable settlement with aid had been rejected by the Indian free health care. the Indian government. Mesquita government. They presumably did- By the time her claim was said Union Carbide found a willing n’t want any goodwill gestures to processed, she was in her early ’20s. bargaining partner in Prime prejudice a final settlement. “The judge told me I could get Rs. Minister Rajiv Gandhi. But as much “They were very concerned,” 25,000 the next morning but I’d as the government wanted to settle Mesquita says of Union Carbide have to pay Rs. 5,000 to his cham- and wash its hands of the affair, it executives. “This was a horrible acci- bers that night,” she claims. “I didn’t was afraid of the political backlash. dent and a lot of people died. They pay and so I got nothing. My

20 The Caravan, November 2009 AP Images Families who lost loved ones were offered just Rs. 1-3 lakh in compensation

A family sits near the entrance of the Union Carbide plant

The Caravan, November 2009 21 mother paid so she got Rs. 25,000.” While the 1989 settlement released Union Carbide from further liability for injuries, it also explicitly left the door open for the Government of India to further aid survivors. Bhopal Gas Peedith Mahila Udyog Sanghathan (BGPMUS) is one of several survivors’ groups fil- ing lawsuits seeking further com- pensation from the government. Abdul Jabbar of BGPMUS has prepared a brief taking the state Welfare Commissioner to High Court asking it to justify its method- ology for paying out claims. He argues that as the original settle- ment was designed for 105,000 vic- tims, the true number has been found to be more than five times that and victims need to be remu- nerated accordingly. Jabbar is a slightly stooped man in his 60s who can rattle off the per- sonal phone numbers of senior min- isters and bureaucrats by memory. He sometimes speaks in hyperbolic terms He says, for instance, that things are exactly as they were 25 years ago. But he seems keyed in to the residents of surrounding bostis and continues to pressure the state government to react. Many neighbourhoods, he points out, are still forced to drink contam- inated water from the waste improp- erly stored on the site, which now falls under the state’s purview. Since 2004, the state of Madhya

Pradesh has been under a Supreme AP Images Court order to provide safe water to Former union Carbide CEO Warren Anderson remains a fugitive from Indian courts the gas-affected areas. The Ministry of Gas Relief and Rehabilitation says Activists call the plant’s waste Fertilizers asked Dow to pay a Rs. already 12 out of 14 colonies have Bhopal’s “second disaster”. During 100 crore deposit towards the been connected and expects to have the plant’s six years of operation, cost of final cleanup. So far Dow the project completed by the waste was routinely dumped in has balked. It’s a thorny issue end of November. evaporation ponds around the site. for the company. If that is true – and NGOs say Union Carbide’s own engineers Shareholders have already voiced they are sceptical – it’s been a long warned during the design phase that concerns that Dow may be conceal- wait; groundwater contamination, these ponds could leach into the sur- ing its Bhopal-related liabilities. In first detected by Union Carbide’s rounding water table. May 2007 a coalition of concerned internal company documents, show Efforts to clean up the site have shareholders, holding about $305 the plant managers were aware of not progressed very far. In 2005, the million worth of Dow stock, intro- waste leakage as early as 1982. Ministry of Agriculture and duced resolutions calling on the

22 The Caravan, November 2009 company to acknowledge its liabili- uncomfortable. The truth about The question was referred to the ties inherited from Union Carbide. how it happened is itself very Ministry of Law which stated that The shareholders included cam- questionable.” “irrespective of the manner in paigners like Amnesty International Reaction in Bhopal was swift. The which UCC was merged or has been as well as larger public sector next day protestors burned an effigy acquired by Dow Chemicals, if there investors like the New York City of the minister in the centre of town is any legal liability it would have to Pension Funds and New York State that resulted in a violent confronta- be borne by Dow Chemicals.” It fur- Common Retirement Fund. tion with police and 13 arrests. ther concluded that “it cannot be “Dow has inherited a legacy con- The effigy burning is a storied said that the investment proposed nected to Union Carbide, and we tradition amongst gas victims in to be made by the Dow Chemicals believe that addressing any out- Bhopal – though the honour is usu- (sic) will be immune from the standing liabilities that exist is ally reserved for former Union orders of the Court.” absolutely necessary if Dow is to Carbide CEO Warren Anderson. Chennai-based journalist and ensure expansion in the critical (Anderson remains a fugitive from activist Nitayand Jayaraman says Indian market,” said New York City Indian courts despite several extra- this document proves that Dow’s Comptroller William C Thompson, dition attempts. He’s now retired in planned investment in India is being Jr. in a joint statement with The Hamptons, the posh seaside held up by liabilities inherited by Amnesty International explaining resort community two hours from Union Carbide. its action. He added that the compa- New York City.) “That scared the living daylights ny has a “fiduciary obligation” to be Despite repeated attempts, out of them,” Jayaraman says of the a good corporate citizen wherever it Ramesh did not respond to The government’s legal opinion. does business. Caravan’s interview requests. But in “They’ve been lobbying the govern- But Dow spokesman Scot an email to activist groups obtained ment to drop that.” Wheeler reiterated the company’s by the magazine, the minister “apol- But Dow spokesman Scot line that when Dow bought Union ogised unreservedly” for any offence Wheeler says it’s “absolutely not Carbide, “it was with the under- he caused to survivors. He claimed the case” that liability from Union standing that Union Carbide had his orchestrated visit had meant to Carbide has hindered its expansion settled its civil liability with the convince that the waste could be into India. Government of India, and that the removed and incinerated safely “We are confident about Dow Government and Indian Courts despite opposition from people liv- India’s future success and we look honour their decisions and ing nearby the incinerators. forward to being a part of India’s their commitments.” Activists suspect that Ramesh’s continued economic development.” remarks about “uncomfortable” But Dow’s expansion into India he Indian government still truths are coded language meant to is moving slowly. A deal between hews to the company line. assuage Dow Chemical’s liability Dow and Indian Oil to build a mono T Union Minister of fears that the company claims pre- ethylene glycol production facility Environment and Forests, Jairam vents it from fully investing in India. at a refinery in Panipat collapsed Ramesh, still adjusting to his new Indeed, documents uncovered over Union Carbide liabilities. role as a spokesman for the trees, through Right To Information Bhopal campaigners were able to visited Bhopal on September 14. requests show an internal memo prove that technology used in the There, as the television cameras from the Prime Minister’s Office plant had been developed and rolled and flash bulbs popped, he dated February 2, 2008. In it, the patented by Union Carbide – which downplayed the extent of the conta- Department of Chemicals and Dow had not disclosed – and this mination by picking up a handful of Petrochemicals had asked for a legal led Indian Oil to cancel the deal due waste on the site and remarking, “I opinion over Dow’s liability for the to Union Carbide’s outstanding lia- have held that waste in my hand, I cleanup of the former Union bilities. This linkage was confirmed am still alive.” Carbide plant. The memo noted that in an October 28, 2005 letter from Ramesh went even further, “Dow has proposed to invest $1 bil- the Minister of Petroleum and appearing to side with Union lion in India and was seeking an Natural Gas’ private secretary to Carbide’s version of events that the assurance from the Government of activists in Bhopal. disaster wasn’t caused by the com- India that their executives should be pany negligence. able to visit India freely to take care ut NGO victories over a “If I were to tell you why the of their business interests while mighty multi-national pro- Bhopal tragedy happened,”Ramesh simultaneously attending to the Bvide no physical comfort to told reporters, “the truth is very pending civil cases against them.” gas-affected people. A visit to the

The Caravan, November 2009 23 low-roofed bostis that surround the shut- tered plant confirms this. Many people suf- fer from the long-term health effects of living in a toxic community. In the JP Nagar neighbourhood, adja- cent to the former plant’s main entrance, lies a bosti of low- roofed dwellings and streets just wide enough to allow a motorcycle and sever- al goats to pass. The people who lived here are some of the worst affected, living just a few hundred metres from the MIC tank that breached. Mohammed Arif AP Images was only 18 months old when the A quarter century after the leak, Union Carbide maintains it was caused by sabotage gas leaked. He regularly sees a doc- tor for respiratory problems but is even come with asthmatic problems tion,” Gaur says. “Twenty wards able to hold a job driving an auto or respiratory distress and chronic have not received any money. We rickshaw. His father fared pulmonary disorders.” are claiming from the Government much worse. Predominately Muslim, JP Nagar of India that they have to pay. But Sitting on the stoop of their was one of the worst affected neigh- 20 wards they have not gotten any dwelling, 55-year-old Mohammed bourhoods. Ninety-one percent of rehabilitation.” Rafik Arif is a former farm labourer its residents received Rs. 25,000 – These same 20 wards also happen who hasn’t worked since the gas the lowest compensation available, to house mostly middle-class Hindus, struck He’s not lazy; one look at him according to a 2002 survey by the a major BJP’s stronghold in the city. and it’s apparent he is sick. He bare- Sambhavna Trust, a free neighbour- By contrast, many of the neighbour- ly speaks, and his eyes stare listless- hood health clinic. hoods hardest hit were poor Muslims ly at the strangers enquiring about Many allege discrimination by and Hindus of lower castes, says his family’s health and welfare. Both the Madhya Pradesh government in Satinath Sarangi, an activist who father and son say they received just disbursing the settlement. heads the Sambhavna Trust. Rs. 25, 000 each in compensation. In 2003, the Bharatiya Janata “Both the state government and Helping people like the elder Party (BJP) came to power in the the central government have decid- Arif – whose son says doctors have state and immediately began push- ed that these are expendable peo- been unable to relieve his suffering ing a new agenda for gas victims in ple,” Sarangi says. – has been a challenge. Medical Bhopal. Former Chief Minister professionals can prescribe medi- Babulal Gaur is a veteran BJP he flagship hospital ostensibly cines for symptoms but find long- politician and now heads the state’s built to ease the suffering of term cures elusive. Ministry for Gas Relief and T gas victims was placed miles “Because some of the permanent Rehabilitation. In an interview away from the eye of the storm. Just damage like visual and respiratory, from his leafy residence in New past the city’s outer greenbelt lies they have given them permanent Bhopal, the 79-year-old Gaur says the sprawling 87-acre Bhopal changes,” says Doctor CB Rohitas 20 wards were incorrectly deemed Memorial Hospital and Research who works in the city-run unaffected in 1984 and ineligible Centre. The campus has become a Jawaharlal Nehru Hospital, the clos- for compensation. favourite target of survivors’ groups est facility to the former plant. “They “Only 36 wards got compensa- who say the government’s

24 The Caravan, November 2009 Maudar, acknowledged that staffing was an issue because of competition from private facilities but said that gas patients “are given treatment and given medicine of the latest nature and which nobody can deny or challenge.”

tark divisions still divide Bhopal. Bhopal’s old down- Stown, with its grandiose Islamic architecture, literally crum- bles amidst the dust of chaotic traf- fic and light industry. Just a mile up the road, across the river, New Bhopal literally rises up with jew- ellery shops and designer clothing stores. The newer, affluent popula- tion sits on a plateau that overlooks the choked inner-city. In New Bhopal, an auto dealer- ship has taken “Bhopal Moves On” as its slogan and emblazoned it on the cars it sells. Many well-to-do Bhopalis resent the fact that their city – the capital of Madhya Pradesh – continues to be associated with mass death and poverty. Back in Maharashtra where Bhopal’s legacy still plagues Dow, the battle has taken a backseat while the state holds elections. The Maharashtra government has com- missioned a new report to recom-

AP Images mend the best way forward. There is still no definitive record of casualities Dow is still interested in Maharashtra. It already has a 150- largesse has left out gas victims. the hospital keeps community scientist R&D facility nearby Pune Built with about Rs. 187 crore groups at arms-length. and is intent on expanding into the from Union Carbide Corporation’s “I think they wanted to get village of Shinde. sale of Union Carbide India Ltd. involved with this hospital in some “We are currently awaiting the stock and a sizable chunk of public way, on the board or something.” he results of the second committee money, it treats a mix of gas-affected says. “The hospital has really kept report convened by the state govern- people and private patients. Called everyone quite far away.” ment,” writes Dow Chemical spokes- the “Taj Mahal” by its detractors, it The hospital has had trouble woman Louise Adhikari in an email certainly looks opulent and is sited retaining its skilled doctors and sur- to The Caravan. far from the gas-affected population. geons. Doctor Skand Trivedi, who But the activist Vilas Sonawane Added amenities like a health club heads the cardiology department, says he suspects that the report is and swimming pool for its staff has- says that’s because the hospital being held until after a new party n’t improve its image. doesn’t pay its doctors and special- comes to power. The group is Doctor Varshney, who heads the ists enough. “Because this hospital is steeling itself for a new fight, gastrointestinal department, says not able to pay good salaries to its whoever is elected. about 70 percent of the patients he doctors in many specialties there is “It doesn’t matter,” he sees are gas victims. He says NGOs no doctor,” he says. says, “because Dow has are miffed that the trust that runs Hospital Director, Doctor KK purchased everybody.” !

The Caravan, November 2009 25