Greenpeace activists term Carbide site Toxic

This story was a very well display in the Bhopal live edition of the Hindustan Times on November 20, 2002. Since Vinutha who is working with the Greenpeace movement for years and who happened to be a good friend called and told me that they are planning to dig up various sites around the Union Carbide factory to find if they were toxic and if I would be interested in covering the whole operation itself. I readily agreed and went to the Union Carbide factory only to land up with another story to my credit.

More than 100 Greenpeace activists, under the banner of International campaign for Justice in Bhopal (ICJB), descended on the gas tragedy town of Bhopal and signposted three solar evaporation ponds located approximately 400 meters to the north of the Union Carbide India Ltd today. Solar evaporation ponds are repositories of factory waste which had been created by the Union Carbide and the Madhya Pradesh had covered them up after the gas disaster. Greenpeace activists, however, are claiming the sites are still exhibiting dangerous levels of toxicity.
The activists today declared all the ponds near the Carbide factory “poisoned and needing the Dow clean up”. Their signboards and life-size hoardings were in English, Hindi and Urdu fro the benefit of residents living in the vicinity.
The activusts alleged UCIL, had routinely dumped waste from the factory into these three ponds and the 500 odd families near by were open to harmful toxic effluents and other volatile materials. They also said one of ponds, contained toxic waste is inundated with monsoon water, and is regularly used by children for swimming, and also supplies drinking water for cattle.
The activists said the UCIL had never tried to warn people about the toxicity in these sites.
The Greenpeace Research Lab had taken samples twice from these ponds and tested them in 1999 and 2002. The 1999 test had contained traces of dichlorobenzene and a number of aliphatic compounds while the tests taken in 2002 contained chlorinated benzene and aromatic and aliphatic hydrocarbons.
The samples and tests also revealed the toxic waste from the three ponds had alkylated benzenes, phthalate esters, phenol and molecular sulphur.
The activists demanded that the State and the Center take the cleaning up process or in another moth they will be forced to get it they own toxic cleaners to remove the chemical waste.
What is surprising is that when the State government spokesperson was asked about the toxic waste he nodded in agreement and also said that they were short of funds to get them cleaned. While the pollution control board said that they have written to the center seeking help to remove the toxic waste as early as possible.

For other stories on the Union Carbide and Bhopal Gas tragedy please see the below links
http://shivselvan.blogspot.com/2009/02/bhopal-yet-to-recover-photo-story.html
http://shivselvan.blogspot.com/2009/02/it-pays-to-be-truthful.html
http://shivselvan.blogspot.com/2009/02/survivors-tale.html

Bhopal yet to Recover - Photo Story

On the eve of the First World Social Justice day I wanted to write about the biggest injustice made to the society, and request like minded people and also appeal to them to join in the fight to raise their voice to get justice to the Bhopal Gas disaster survivors.

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.

It Pay's to be Truthful

In my entire career for the first time in Bhopal, during my stint with the Hindustan Times, I was accused by an IAS officer of filing news without evidence. This event involved Dominique Lapierre who had come to Bhopal from 6th to the 10 September 2001 to release his book 'It was five past midnight in Bhopal'. It happened that Lapierre along with his nephew and co-author Javier Moro were going to visit the Union Carbide factory to pose with their book for the visiting European media persons and I tagged along with them since Moro had invited me to join them.
At the entrance of the Carbide factory the bus was made to stop and the security person in charge came in and asked me to leave since this was the instruction by the Madhya Pradesh state government that no India will be allowed into the Factory premises. They were about three Indian Journalists who were denied including me.

The following was story Hindustan Times published on my first person account along with the denial report by the concerned IAS officer and the reply to which I had made, thanks to Dominique Lapierre.

Dominique Lapierre along with co-author Javire Moro showing copies of 'It was five past Midnight in Bhopal' to the gas victim Ganga Ram, one of the key characters in the book, upon their arrival in Bhopal on Thursday, 6th September, 2001.

This image was used in the Hindustan Times - Delhi and Bhopal editions on the 7th, September, 2001.




EXORCISING THE PAST: The shadow of Dominique Lapierre- speaking at the release function of his book It was five past midnight in Bhopal - looms over a reflective Chief Minister Digvijay Singh on Friday, 7th September, 2001.


This image was used in the page 1 of the Hindustan Times - Bhopal edition on the 8th September, 2001 edition.




Lapierre, a friend of Indian Press - Dated 8th September 2001 in the Bhopal Live pages.

Writer Dominique Lapierre today came to the rescue of the Indian Press corps when they were denied permission to enter the Union Carbide factory along with the European press group. Lapierre showed his solidarity with the Indian Press by arguing with L K Joshi, Commissioner Public Relations (Government of Madhya Pradesh). Lapierre eventually succeeded in getting the Indian Journalists inside the factory. Joshi was opposed to the entry of the Indian media, including a TV channel from New Delhi, along with the foreign press.
Lapierre wanted the European media people to hear him about the gas tragedy with the backdrop of the factory. Lapierre said he could not see any difference between the Indian Press and the foreign one and so the permission be granted.
This experience of Indian media men was indeed heartening. They seldom get this kind of professional support from their foreign counterparts.

Dominique Lapierre along with co-author Javire Moro pose with their book 'It was five past midnight in Bhopal' at the Union Carbide Factory on Friday, 7th September, 2001.

Joshi Denies Report - Dated 10th September, 2001 in Bhopal live pages.

Principal Secretary and Commissioner Public Relations L K Joshi has categorically denied that Dominique Lapierre had had a talk with him on the afternoon of September 7 to get entry to Indian Journalists into the Union Carbide plant. Referring to the news item titled 'Lapierre, a friend of Indian Press', that appeared in Bhopal live on September 8, Joshi said 'Lapierre never talked to me, to say nothing of arguing, about permission to the local press to enter Union Carbide'.
'I had been approched by Mr Parikh to get permission for the Department of Bhopal Gas Relife for some visiting journalists from France. Later I recieived a call from the correspondent of the Star TV that she also wanted to visit the factory along with the visiting foreign journalists. I explained to her that I would have to obtain permission from the concerned department which may take some time. However, Ms Alka Sirohi, Principal Secretary readily agreed to give the necessary permission. I requested my colleague Mr Raghuraj Singh to go to Union Carbide premises and ensure that all journalists could enter the premises of UC. Another colleague of mine Mr Somkuwar was present at the site and sorted out the proble. I have always tried sincerely to extend whatever assistance in my power to help mediapersons and this has always been reciprocated.
My Reply to the Rejoinder -

My report was based on the fact that while the foreign journalists were permitted easy access to the plant, Indian journalists were not. In my presence Dominique Lapierre, using Mr Parikh's phone made a couple of calls and there was talk that Mr L K Joshi has been spoken to and an he will contact us back to sort out matter.
The Indian press corps were finally allowed inside only after Mr Lapierre made it a prestige issue.
Mr Lapierre even mentioned this episode at length during an interactive session with the public and the media at the TTTI auditorium on Sunday morning (09-09-2001) and said he had to speak to the authorities to allow Indian media persons along with the Europeans. The reference to Mr Joshi in my report was based on my understanding of what transpired between Mr Joshi and Mr Lapierre. No offence was, however intended towards anyone. I may also mention that Mr Joshi and his staff have been exteremely helpful in enabling me to discharge my responsibilites as a photo-journalist.


(Left) Dominique Larierre along with Foreign media at the Union Carbide factory site with me leading in the front, (Right) Dominique Lapierre and Javire Moro with me before they left back to France to promote their book.

A Survivor's Tale

This picture below fetched me the World Health Organization's Photo Competition award in 2005 in the theme 'Health & Disability'.
This picture was taken 29th of November, 2004. My friend Abdul Jabbar who runs an NGO for the betterment of the survivor's affected in the Bhopal Gas tragedy which claimed thousands of lives in 1984, said that one survivor needed urgent help and only the media can do that for her. Jabbar who knew I was working with Hindustan Times and also feeding images for the AFP requested me to come since most of the other local journalist and photographers in Bhopal had refused to help him in his struggle.
He had told me how this 40 year old Gazalla (then 36) had to fight with a lot of red tape to get her treatment done free of cost from the Madhya Pradesh Government. This made an interesting story and so I requested Jabbar to take me to her home. Once inside I found that she had lost her eyesight and also was paralytic on one side due the side effects caused by the Union Carbide pesticide plant's gas leak. Then to my luck I saw an old black & white picture of a very pretty girl in her teens and asked her father 'who is this good looking girl', he smiled and told me that it is Gazalla herself when she was 16 years old. Immediately I asked for the picture to be cleaned up an asked Gazalla to hold it next her present state of face.
I came back to the office and filed this picture along with an story caption for Hindustan Times - Bhopal edition and also send a few images to AFP. The picture was given three column space in the Bhopal live pages. The Next morning to my suprise I was getting calls from various newspapers, magazines and TV Correspondents from across the country asking me for the address of Gazalla . Later that day I got to know from my friend Jabbar that, Gazalla's home was flooded with TV crews from across the country and senior correspondents from various leading newspapers. Well I felt happy that I was able to do something worth for an lady who required help. As for Gazalla herself, after a hectic day called me up and thanked me for all the help I had done for her and her family.
Later in 2005 I entered this image for an World Health Organization photo competition and to my surprise it got awarded and was put on display at the Annual World Health Conference held in Switzerland as one of the 10 best photographs from around the world in the theme 'Health & Disability'.
The WHO officials later the same year send three sets of Postal cards with my picture on it and told me that they had made world wide release of these post cards. This award is more precious to me than any of my previous International awards which I had received so far.

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.