An quarter century of years have passed passed since the world's worst man-made disaster - Bhopal gas tragedy - occurred. But despite the passage of time the trauma continues for the survivors of that fateful night of Dec 2-3, 1984, when over 40 tonnes of methyl isocyanate (MIC) spewed out of the now defunct Union Carbide's pesticide plant.
Having borne the brunt of neurological, hormonal and mental health problems - besides the economic hardships - the survivors are now faced with the problem of deformed children being born.
The Indian Council of Medical Research (ICMR) initiated 18 studies in the aftermath of the Bhopal disaster. However, despite findings of long-term damage, these studies were all prematurely ended within 10 years, that too at a time when the evidence of damage on the offspring of survivors was beginning to show.
"Children suffering congenital deformities continue to be denied medical attention. Only 14 children received official assistance for heart surgery and 13 assistance in diagnosis for congenital brain anomalies between 1992 and 1997, under the program The Indian Council of Medical Research (ICMR).
Even as years pass by many are wanting for treatment and many more are staring the face of death for no fault of theirs.
Only in Picture now: The thousands of portraits of victims who had fallen prey to the deadly gas on the 3rd December 1984 night being cleaned (left) as a pigeon makes an flight of innocent souls (right), at the Forensic Department terrace of the Gandhi Medical College, Bhopal.
The Killer Factory 1: 1984 pictures of the Union Carbide factory which had leaked the gas in Bhopal.
The Killer Factory 2: 2004 images of the Union Carbide with all the chemical waste strewn all over the place and emanating an killer air and damaging the ground water around the factory.
Ground Reality: An public tap earmarked by the Bhopal Municipal Corporation as - not potable water (top left), as a resident of the locality next to the Union Carbide factory catches water from an alternate public tap (above), even as the survivors have protested many a time, which have fell on deaf ears of the then Congress led and present BJP led Governments.
Mute witness of Victims and Survivors: Pictures provided by an NGO, Mahila Udyog Sangathan showing police and public carry bodies of victims for the mass funeral (top), as those who survived getting their illness treated by the Missionaries of Charity (left) as Mother Teresa cuddles an affected and orphaned child.
Eyewitness to the killer gas:
Champa Devi & Rashida Bi who run an woman's organizations against the Union Carbide and the Dow chemicals in front of the posters with their demands and the disaster the Bhopal Gas Tragedy has made over the past 25 years .
Bhopal Gas Orphans Shaid Noor along with his wife Ferdoz and their children Neeha Praveen and Aaman at their home near the Union Carbide Factory in Bhopal. Shaid says that he earns rupees 800 a month and his children have discontinued from school deu to nonpayment of the school fees.
Bhopal Gas Orphan 30 year old Suman Khuswa lost all her family members 25 years ago now cuddles her three month old daughter Parinita even as her 5 year old daughter Anushka looks on at their home in the Orphans colony.
Four Generation of Survivors: 90 Year old Naramadi Bi (Seated) seen with her Daughter In law 50 year old Rukhmani Bi (Standing Behind) and Grand Daughter 26 year old Maya Karan (seated below) and her son 1 year old Chooto at their home in the widows colony near the Union Carbide factory in Bhopal.
A Tale of a Survivor: 65 year old Noor Jahan the widow of Bhopal Gas Victim Aziz Khan narrets the loss of her Husband and children 25 years ago with tears in her eyes at her widows colony home in Bhopal.
Living and still Suffering:
34 year old Rehana Praveen an Bhopal Gas Victim explains her 15 year old daughter Nargis Jahan's plight of Physical disability after 25 years of the leak in Bhopal. Rehana claims that her daughter's plight is deu to the afterefects of the gas leak which she had inhaled 20 years ago.
Devika and her brother who were born with cleft lips and abnormal face structures play at their home in old Bhopal area close to the Union Carbide factory.
Sita Bi takes care of her hailing husband Sevaram who was an employee at the Union Carbide and now suffers from lung failure and has been facing a slow death at his home outside the main entrance of the factory premises.
54 year old Jamuna Devi waits for the free eye and other general medical check up at the Mahila Udyog Sanghtan premises. Jamuna has been losing her eyesight and now face another threat on her lungs.
36 year old Gazalla a Muslim girl who was blinded by the Bhopal gas tragedy shows an old photo of herself 20 years ago in this picture taken at her home on November 29th 2004. - Read more about her at http://shivselvan.blogspot.com/2009/02/survivors-tale.html
The Fight Continues:
Unborn foetuses which are on display at the museum of Forensic Department of Gandhi Medical College, Bhopal. These Unborn foetuses died in the womb due to their mother's exposure to the killer gas (MIC) from the Union Carbide factory on December 2003 in 1984.
10 year old Imran holds a board with DOW written in red and a skeletal face during the yearly protest on December 3rd in Bhopal.
An Greenpeace activist with an 'Clean Up Bhopal from the Toxic Waste', message watches the locals burn an effigy of Warren Anderson in an yearly protest on December 3rd. Anderson is the man who owned Union Carbide and wanted by the Indian courts on culpable homicide, is still at large in the USA where he resides.
The Clean Up in Government Style:
Daily wage workers hired by the State Government of Madhya Pradesh, work without any safety protectors and gas masks physically move the chemical waste (left) to construct an wall around the sheds with the large amount of sacks inside the Union Carbide factory. These pictures which were carried by the Hindustan Times caused a flutter and some of the top officials were either transferred or suspended.
The Missing Man:
A file picture of Warren Anderson who is the main accused in the Bhopal Gas Tragedy which claimed thousands of lives and thousands are dying due to the aftereffects. Though the Indian government has sought his extradition from the USA, he is yet to be found and brought to justice.
The Good Samaritans for Justice to Bhopal Survivors:
Noted Activist Abdul Jabbar in the fore ground of a collage of photographs of the Bhopal Gas Tragedy 20 years ago explains the events that happned and the cause for which he has been fighting. Jabbar says that the issue should be kept alive because ther are thousands who are still facing health problems deu to the contaminated ground water and the toxic waste lying within and arouns the Union Carbide factory.
Sathyanath Sarangi (sathyu) (right), of the Sambhavana Trust makes a point on the Bhopal Gas Tragedy and it's after effects even after 25 years of the leak at his Sambhavna Trust Clinic in Bhopal.
Rashida Bi (left) who runs an woman's organizations against the Union Carbide and the Dow chemicals along with Dominique Lapierre who has donated 65 percent royalty of his book titled 'It was five past midnight in Bhopal'. Lapierre has also atopted an school and old age home too.
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