Bhopal gas leak victims recall night of horror

Activists say that the victims are yet to get proper healthcare

Bhopal, Dec 2: Thirty-two years of agonising existence after the infamous gas leak in Bhopal have only aggravated the pain of victims, who are still haunted by the nightmarish experience they went through on the fateful night.

Latifa alias Rehman, 54, a resident of the Widow's Colony, said the night of December 2-3, 1984, when poisonous methyl isocynate gas leaked from the Union Carbide factory, is still fresh in her memory as if it had happened only the other day.

"My family, then settled in Kazi Cantt, was sleeping when the gas leaked in the dead of the night. As we suffocated, we came out on the streets to find people lying dead on roads like autumnal leaves. Everyone was running away. No one knows how many died," she recalled on Friday.

Rafika Bi, 60, said she and her husband are still grappling with diseases they got after inhaling the poisonous methyl isocynate gas from the Union Carbide factory.

Sharda Bai, 62, said the poisonous gas took the life of her brother-in-law Maharaj Singh. She lamented the alleged apathy of the successive governments in Madhya Pradesh and the Centre towards the plight of the gas victims.

Bhopal Gas Victim Women Industry Organisation's Abdul Jabbar said both the Centre and the state governments tried to side with the accused company, and therefore the gas victims did not get ample healthcare or proper compensation till date.

IANS