A29INDIA SPECIAL
RITU JHA
San Francisco BayArea nonprofitBeyond Holistichosted a weeklongcommemoration,
‘We All Live in Bhopal’, ofthe gas disaster of 1984. Itwas held at the University ofC a l i f o r n i a - B e r k e l e y ’ sUniversity Hall.
“I do not want people tojust come and attend theevent and go back with someinformation,” JayshreeChander, founder of BeyondHolistic, told India Abroad.“I really want people to par-ticipate.”
She first visited Bhopal,she said, in 1997 to help survivors of the1984 disaster and worked as a volunteer atthe Sambhavna Clinic. Within months, shefell ill due to the toxic water.
‘I was infected by the environment thereand had to return to the United States. Ittook me over three years to get better,’ shetold the audience. ‘Currently, the concern issecond generation and the future genera-tion, who we believe will be impacted.’
She said the world has not learnt fromBhopal. “It’s quite remarkable that suchdisasters keep happening, whether it’sUnion Carbide disaster in India or an oilspill in the US.”
“This is a big issue,” Chander added.“Prime Minister Narendra Modi is veryeager to have foreign investment but he isnot prioritizing the environmental, healthand safety issues along with that. We could
be setting ourselves up into another Bhopalor worse than the Bhopal tragedy. Althoughit’s wonderful that his administration spoketo the activists who were on hunger strikeand decided on increasing compensation,we are concerned on the regulations thenew government should implement.”
She asked why the Indian governmentwas giving out taxpayers’ money as com-pensation. “Dow Chemical should be com-ing up with the extra money,” Chander said.
On a recent visit to Bhopal, she said, shesaw many nonprofits doing good work butobserved that environmental cleanup waslacking.
“What is really disrupting is that theremight be higher rate of birth defects forgenerations,” she added. “Union Carbidedidn’t pay for any effects it had on the chil-dren exposed to the disaster.”
Rick Hind, legislative director atGreenpeace who has worked on chemicaldisaster prevention policy since 1984, saidboth the US and Indian governmentsshould enforce laws.
“At Greenpeace, we are pushing for newregulation in the US to use safer process ofusing chemicals and if those regulations areadopted by President Obama, they couldbecome standard for the whole world toenforce,” Hind told India Abroad.
‘We are not going to give up. If this(Bhopal disaster) had happened in the US,he (Warren M Anderson, the then UnionCarbide chief) would have been heldaccountable and the company would havethoroughly compensated people. But sincethey had the plant in India, they knew theyhad less liability and perhaps were lesscareful.’
Pradeep Sundriyal, who helped organizethe event, told India Abroad, “There are somany of us who are not aware of what hap-pened and what is happening in Bhopal.We need to make people know about therisk of industrial accidents which can hap-pen near their cities and we hope we will dothat.”
Kokila Bhattacharya, from Bhopal, whosepainting was exhibited at the event, said,“My painting shows a mother holding hersuffering child. Toxins are found in thebreast milk of mothers in Bhopal.”
She said her painting talks of Bhopal’ssecond disaster — generation of deformedbabies due to the lingering chemicals inand around the contaminated site.
Bhattacharya, who also exhibited inMumbai last week, said her father and sis-ter are victims themselves.
For Bhopal, in America
Snapshots of the event.
Jayshree Chander, founder, Beyond Holistic.Visitors appreciate Kokila Bhattacharya’s painting at the ‘We All Live in Bhopal’ event.
