You don’t enter paradise tomorrow
Or in ten-years time
You enter it today
When you are poor and crucified.
-- Surveying the crowd Sister Felicity could not help think this sentence by the Catholic writer Leon Bloy. (extract from the book).
Many might call it the worst ever catastrophe. But some beg to differ. The disaster was predicted much before it actually occurred.
Safety First
It sounds ironical but for Carbide, the giant American firm safety at work place was a primary concern. Yet it was negligence and lack of safety that resulted in massive death toll. Thousands who died instantaneously after inhaling the venomous gas vapors can be called fortunate in terms of those left to bear the after-effects of the deadly gas. Till date the effects of the lethal gas has not neutralized in the vicinity. In fact the people of Bhopal continue to pass on the genetic disorders caused by the gas to the next generation. All this happened not because of a day’s negligence but because of the mixed machiavellian deeds of the Indian state government and the owners of the Carbide.
It is unfortunate to be poor but if you are poor and in India then you have committed a sin. The gas which leaked from Carbide on the ill-fated day of 3rd December, 1984 did not however discriminate between the rich and poor but attacked and affected all. The worst casualties were the poor. These causalities are in terms of numbers (of dead), in terms of those who had no means left to get back on their feet, in terms of those who never received a single pie as compensation from the government or the carbide because the human greed for money had overcome the sensitivity for the maimed. Probably this is a greater irony than the tragedy itself.
When Carbide decided to spread its wing to sell its pesticide across India it was good news for everyone. It was good news because a great multi-national, in fact an ‘amricaan firm- selling pesticide’ coming to India meant that God had blessed the poor farmers. The news was good for the Madhya Pradesh state government for why else would they allot a piece of land to Carbide only a mile away from the central Bhopal. For reasons obvious the GoI never tightened the screw on Carbide and watched over its functioning when it was required.
‘It was five past midnight in Bhopal’ is a story of the actual event, which takes shape much before the tragedy occurred at Bhopal. Lapierre/Moro go back in time and reconstruct the scenes of how the idea of the Carbide gas plant at Bhopal was conceived. And the changes that it brought in the daily lives of the poor people living in the vicinity of the designated land. In this novel the authors recount with the help of those who either survived the gas-leak or were a part of the plant during some point of their life. The main protagonists however are the poor people from the nearby ‘bustees’ where the plant was located.
Carbide was convinced that India will prove to be its lucky mint-machine and a profitable market for its pesticides. India being an agricultural country and the that the use of pesticides to save crops was limited back then created an atmosphere that welcomed the giant with open hands. What started as major financial endeavor turned out to be a disaster. Carbide was running in loss. The immediate reaction was to cut-cost, Safety First took back seat. Employees were sacked in order to cut-short the staff. The result was desultory as it meant compromising with the safety and quality. Nonetheless the management continued playing with danger.
Repeated warnings from the plant’s engineers and the other workers failed to evoke the necessary response. To further compensate the losses the management took a decision that ultimately lead to the tragedy. The plants safety system was turned off! Obviously with such lackadaisical one expect such tragedies to occur.
The inevitable occurred on the night of 3rd December, 1984. Toxic gas escaped from the American plant killing between sixteen and thirty thousand and injuring five hundred thousand people. Carbide however never owned up its mistake but termed it as a work of sabotage.
What Carbide did is nothing uncommon. Today the greed for money seems to have taken away the moral responsibilities of the corporate world. For them success and ambition measures up in piling monetary balances rather than hard-work, safety and reputation.
This is a must read book for all those who want to get an insight into how the ugly disaster took shape. Also buy the authentic version as all royalties of the novel support humanitarian work in Bhopal.