Bhopal gas tragedy-What happened and why?

The contamination of storage tank no. 610 containing MIC, with water carrying catalytic material is the cause of the disaster i.e. the release of about 40 tons of toxic gas-MIC. The locales of the city woke up to clusters of the suffocating gas which encroached desperately upon the streets filled with cattle, dogs and birds, leaving  each one of them falling in its way gasping for breath. No security arrangements or emergency plans were made. The Drs. did not know the exact treatment, adding to the agony of the lamenting population. The next morning extent of damage could be realized when dead bodies blocked the streets n leaves had turned black, all vegetation n crops destroyed....about 10000 are expected to have died instantly on exposure and the exact figure is still a mystery. This was the Hiroshima of chemical world!!
             The primary autopsies revealed that the human blood had turned purple red; the lungs had become ash colour and filled with their own secretions. The tracheas were so dry that the mucous flaked off on touch, blood was thick. The gas leak saw thousands blinded, breathless flooding the hospitals, carrying those who had collapsed along the way. In cases of acute exposure, victims had suffered extensive damage to their lungs. Few fell victim of secondary infections of lungs and respiratory tracts. Victims suffered depression, anxiety, impotence, loss of appetite, nightmares.                                                               
In oct'82, a mixture of MIC,chloroform and HCL escaped the site and injured a few workers apart from damage to flora n fauna. Such regular incidents warned the administrators, of the plant’s potential threat but they kept on underplaying the safety precautions to cut down costs. Half to two-thirds of the experienced engineers n operators left the co. well before the accident in search of more secure and satisfactory jobs being fully acquainted with the upcoming destruction.

MIC in gaseous form is heavier than air, tends to settle down and is subject to wind dispersal. At 11.00p.m on 2nd dec'84, the pressure in the tank mounted till the level the safety valve did not open. It was between 12.45a.m and 1.30am the ‘terror’ was out to cover an area of 40 km sq.The advice of senior administrators like Mr.M.N.Buch to locate the plant in a less populated area was ignored. Rather he was transferred before he could take any action.

                         

 The issue of threats from this plant was raised in the M.P. assembly in dec'82. Mr. T.S.Viyogi,labour minister in the Arjun singh's govt. stated: "A sum of rs.25 cr. has been invested in this unit. The factory is not a small stone can be shifted elsewhere. There is no danger to Bhopal nor will ever be”.

                           Equally confident was J.Mukund,Carbide's works manager, when he stated:” The gas leak just can't be from my plant. The plant is shut down. Our technology just can't go wrong, we can't have such leaks”. Once it was confirmed that the leak was from the UCC plant, the chief medical officer denied that MIC was fatal; accentuating that it was just a 'minor irritant’. Apart from these several other factors led to the disaster:-

·                    gradual and steady erosion of good maintenance practices

·                    declining quality of technical training of personnel esp. the supervisory staff

·                    depleting stocks of vital spare-parts

·                    senseless economy drive producing staff's low morale and lack of capital replacement

·                    exodus of  more experienced and able engineers and

·                    lesser staffs at important work stations.

                         

Bhopal gas tragedy- an introduction

The  industries of developed countries like  US,etc find it difficult to carry out the environmentally hazardous productions in their native place due to several strict impositions and laws for the welfare of people which compels them to make home the third world countries like India... The inefficient plants with less of safety arrangements have been dumped here n there n we don't even oppose because all of us can foresee the economic viability but what is the actual scene ? Don't you think we had to pay a higher cost,instead! when , one such project came to India ,Bhopal. Union Carbide's operations in India go back to the beginning of this century. In 1924, a plant for batteries was opened in Calcutta. By 1983 Carbide had 14 plants in India manufacturing chemicals pesticides, batteries and other products. Union Carbide's operations in India were conducted through a subsidiary , Union Carbide India, Ltd. (UCIL). The parent US Company (UCC) held 50.9 % of UCIL stock. The balance of 49.1% was owned by various Indian investors. Normally foreign investors are limited to 40% ownership of equity in Indian companies, but the Indian government waived this requirement in the case of Union Carbide because of the sophistication of its technology and the company's potential for export......
                            But when it started incurring losses due to decrease in the use and thus the demand of pesticides which were already banned abroad, Union Carbide India Limited (UCIL) was  to close the plant and sell it off.But when no buyer was available in India, it had to be shipped to another country. Negotiations toward this shutdown were completed by the end of November 1984. Financial losses and plans to dismantle the plant exacerbated Carbide's already negligent management practices that led to this tragedy. While saving money for both Union Carbide Corporation (UCC) and UCIL, negligent maintenance and huge reductions of trained personnel produced bitter results in front of our eyes.........
                            3rd of dec,1984 was the biggest shock for the people of Bhopal,Madhya Pradesh when a wind carrying poisonous  grey cloud of MIC i.e Methyl Isocyanate floated out of the plant site of UCC(Union Carbide Commission),between 12.00 a.m.-1.00 a.m.No one could have ever imagined the amount of loss be it monetary or in terms of no. of lives.
                             It can never find any parallel in the chemical industry owing to the extent of devastation. This nightmare is supposed to have taken about 8000 lives(over 3 times of the officially declared total), who were people with their hopes n dreams ironically attached to the technology n prosperity, the plant stood for. As many as 4-5 lacs people  have been estimated to have suffered irreparable injuries from the ever-haunting after-effects of the traumatic event and till date it is difficult to say if the future generations would be free from its impact.This incident alarms us as to the cost we are paying for the progress.