Category Archives: News Articles on Bhopal & Dow Chemical

News articles published about the 1984 disaster and the Bhopal campaign

Warren Anderson’s death to impact film on Bhopal gas tragedy?

The death of Warren Anderson former CEO of Union Carbide who was held responsible for the death of thousands during what infamously incident came to be known as the Bhopal Gas Tragedy, died on September 29.

The sudden death of the controversial figure puts a question mark on the film Bhopal: A Prayer For Rains, the film on the Bhopal gas tragedy featuring Martin Sheen as Anderson which is all set for December release.

In the light of Anderson’s death the film’s ending is likely to be altered.

While no one was ready to make any official statements on the film, off the record a source reveals, “Warren is portrayed as a pure villain in the film. That may have to be toned down.” Apparently, Martin Sheen insisted on playing Warren as an unmitigated villain.

Says the director Ravi Kumar, “Right since the time Martin agreed to play the controversial character and did a secret recce of Bhopal and Hyderabad, he was clear that the character must be shown as purely culpable in the script.”

Says Ravi, “You’ll be shocked to know that I wanted to humanise Warren Anderson’s character and make him seem a victim of an organizational rather than an individual error of judgment. But Martin insisted on playing Anderson as black rather than grey. He argued and protested and made me realize that there’s no point in making a film on such a ghastly human tragedy if we dilute the truth.”

Adds Ravi, “We couldn’t take a legal view in the script, but we have taken a very strong moral stand against what happened in Bhopal.”

To read the full article, click here.

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Bhopal unending tragedy? Thirty years after the incident.

There is much that is interesting about Bhopal. The period between 1890 and 1926, for example, when it was ruled by a succession of Begums, or its sobriquet of ‘city of lakes’.

If Benaras is known for its exquisite silks, Bhopal was famous for its zari work. All that changed on the intervening night of December 2-3, 1984.

Fans of the 1975 screen classic, Sholay, may still associate the city with the character of Surma Bhopali – today, the city has a restaurant named after him – but in the collective consciousness, Bhopal has come to be associated inextricably with the gas tragedy.

Thirty years on, the incident continues to cause agony, both physical and emotional, to victims. It has also divided the city in two. In the more recently-built quarters, the shadow of 1984 has almost dissipated. Here, there is no pain blazing in the eyes long after the tears have dried; you do not hear the repeated refrain of ‘khatam ho gaya’  uttered in a voice that has lost its grief in the struggle to survive, to take care of the ones that remain. In every house in the bylanes around the ruins of the Union Carbide  India Ltd. (UCIL) plant, you hear of parents, spouses and children who died, khatam ho gaye, either in the days or months that followed the disaster, or of lingering health issues in the years since.

“My mother died that night. She choked in her sleep. My father and I survived but we continue to suffer from breathing trouble, failing vision and weakness,” says Sunita (35). When Union Carbide came to Bhopal in 1969, all that we knew was that it was a plant that was making pesticide. Local MLAs belonging to the Communist parties had always opposed the setting up of the plant within the city. But then prime minister Indira Gandhi said that the Union Carbide plant in Bhopal would give a boost to the Green Revolution in the country,” recalls Abdul Jabbar, who has been fighting for the rights of victims since immediately after the event. Jabbar himself lost his parents and brother in the disaster.

To read the full article, click here.

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Bhopal Gas tragedy: Victims to go on indefinite hunger fast from today

New Delhi: Ahead of the 30th anniversary of Bhopal gas tragedy, the representatives of five organizations of survivors will today go on an indefinite fast at the Jantar Mantar where they will place demands to enhance compensation.

The agitation would be organised under the banner of hundreds of survivors who would support the fast by sitting with the five women at the Jantar Mantar every day starting from today.

To read the full article, click here.

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Bhopal gas tragedy survivors gear up for indefinite fast

Bhopal gas tragedy victims gathered at Neelam Park in Bhopal on Sunday in sizeable numbers before leaving for New Delhi to participate in a protest at Jantar Mantar on Monday to highlight their demand for greater compensation from Union Carbide or its successor company Dow Chemical.

The five organisations leading the protest are also demanding revision of the figures of death and extent of injuries caused by the disaster in the curative petition filed by the central government in the Supreme Court for additional compensation from Union Carbide and its current owner Dow Chemical.

To read the full article, please click here.

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Bhopal gas tragedy survivors begin indefinite fast at Jantar Mantar

New Delhi: Five women representatives from Bhopal-based organisations along with thousands of survivors of the Union Carbide tragedy today began an indefinite fast at Jantar Mantar in New Delhi demanding enhancement in the compensation.

The agitators called on the Prime Minister Narendra Modi and the Minister of Chemicals and Fertilizers to correct the errors of the previous government on the issue of compensation for the gas disaster.

The major demands are additional compensation of at least Rs 1 lakh for all identified survivors (over 5.69 lakh) and revision of the figures of death and extent of injury in the curative petition filed in the Supreme Court by the Central government.

The survivors are demanding additional compensation for all affected people and revision of figures of death and lingering injury caused by the disaster in December 1984.

To read the full article, please click here.

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