देश का नंबर वन वाटर स्पोटर्स भोपाल। राजधानी के मछलीघर के सामने स्थित छोटे तालाब को देश के वाटर स्पोटर्स सेंटरों में नंबर वन का दर्जा प्राप्त हुआ है। यह जानकारी मप्र क्याकिंग एवं कनोइंग स्पोटर्स एसोसिएशन के खिलाड़ियों ने नगरीय प्रशासन एवं विकास मंत्री बाबूलाल गौर को दी। श्री गौर नगर निगम द्वारा कराए गए विभिन्न कार्य और पाथ-वे का निरीक्षण करने शुक्रवार की सुबह छोटे तालाब पहुंचे थे।
श्री गौर ने छोटे तालाब पर प्रशिक्षण प्राप्त कर रहे देशभर के युवा, क्याकिंग एवं कनोइंग के युवाओं को आश्वासन दिया कि वाटर स्पोटर्स सेंटर के पास खिलाड़ियों के लिए चेंजिंग रूम तथा टायलेट बनवाया जाएगा। श्री गौर ने तालाब के किनारे किनारे पुरानी पनचक्की तक और वहां से खटलापुरा घाट तक पाथ वे बनाने और तालाब की नियमित साफ-सफाई कराने निर्देश निगम अधिकारियों को दिए। निगम द्वारा 330 मीटर लम्बा और 6 फीट चौड़ा इंटरलाकिंग टाइल्स का खूबसूरत पाथवे बनवाया गया है।
नीलम पार्क पर बनेगा वोट क्लब
श्री गौर ने लिली टाकीज के सामने छोटे तालाब के तट पर स्थित नीलम पार्क का अवलोकन कर वहां बनने वाले वोट क्लब की जानकारी ली। निगम अधिकारियों ने बताया कि पर्यटन विकास निगम द्वारा वोट क्लब के लिए 55 लाख रुपए का प्रस्ताव बनाया है। बजट स्वीकृत होने पर इसका काम शुरू हो सकेगा।
मोतिया तालाब पर वाहन धोने पर प्रतिबंध
श्री गौर ने मोतिया तालाब के निरीक्षण के दौरान वहां वाहनों के धोने पर पूर्णत: प्रतिबंध लगाने और सिद्दीक हसन तालाब पर कोल डिपो के नाम पर नाजायज कब्जे सहित अन्य अतिक्रमणों को सख्ती से हटाने के निर्देश दिए। उन्होंने इसी तालाब के सामने मुंशी हुसैन खां तालाब के गहरीकरण और तालाब के सफाई कार्य का भी अवलोकन
सेंटर बना छोटा तालाब
Saturday, August 28, 2010
Asia' s largest goat milk cheese plant at Khajuraho
Bhopal, Aug 27:
Khajuraho, the famous temple town in Chhatarpur district of Madhya Pradesh and also a world heritage site, would soon also boast of having Asia's largest goat milk cheese plant. Estimated to cost over Rs. 38 crore the plant would come up shortly.
The cheese produced from goat milk at this plant would be exported to European countries. It would throw open direct employment to over three hundred people and indirect employment to close to two hundred families. A memorandum of understanding was signed for this plant between M/s Goat Fresh Firm Private Limited and Madhya Pradesh State recently.
Khajuraho, the famous temple town in Chhatarpur district of Madhya Pradesh and also a world heritage site, would soon also boast of having Asia's largest goat milk cheese plant. Estimated to cost over Rs. 38 crore the plant would come up shortly.
The cheese produced from goat milk at this plant would be exported to European countries. It would throw open direct employment to over three hundred people and indirect employment to close to two hundred families. A memorandum of understanding was signed for this plant between M/s Goat Fresh Firm Private Limited and Madhya Pradesh State recently.
Thursday, August 26, 2010
पुलिस का शक पूर्व कर्मचारियों पर
पुलिस का शक पूर्व कर्मचारियों पर
भोपाल। मणप्पुरम गोल्ड फाइनेंस कंपनी में हुई ढाई करोड़ रुपए की डकैती में पुलिस को कंपनी के पुराने कर्मचारियों पर शक है। अब तक एक दर्जन से अधिक पुराने कर्मचारियों से पूछताछ की जा चुकी है। आईजी भोपाल डा. शैलेंद्र श्रीवास्तव ने डकैतों पर पंद्रह हजार रुपए का ईनाम घोषित किया है। उन्होंने एक लाख रुपए का ईनाम घोषित करने का प्रस्ताव पुलिस मुख्यालय के माध्यम से राज्य सरकार को भेजा है।
सोमवार को नकाबपोश बदमाश मणप्पुरम गोल्ड फाइनेंस कंपनी के दफ्तर से करीब ढाई करोड़ रुपए का सोना लूट ले गए थे। उसके बाद से पुलिस को अभी तक आरोपियों का सुराग नहीं लगा है। पुलिस को कंपनी के पुराने कर्मचारियों पर संदेह होने की वजह है वारदात के समय लुटेरों की वह धमकी जिसमें उन्होंने कहा था कि उन्हें सबके बारे में पता है। कौन कब से इस कंपनी में काम कर रहा है। कब स्थानांतरित होकर आया है और कौन-कहां रह रहा है। पुलिस ने कंपनी के कर्मचारियों के बताए हुलिए के आधार पर संदेहियों का स्केच जारी किया है। पुलिस चौराहे पर लगाए गए कैमरे का वीडियो फुटेज निकाल कर उक्त स्केच का मिलान भी कर रही है। उसी आधार पर पुलिस ने कुछ संदेहियों से भी पूछताछ की है। पुलिस अब तक पुराने बदमाशों, बैंक के पुराने कर्मचारियों और नए कर्मचारियों से भी पूछताछ कर चुकी है। पुलिस को पुराने कर्मचारियों पर इसलिए भी शक है कि उन्हें बखूबी पता था कि कंपनी में कैमरे नहीं लगे हैं। कंपनी के पुराने इलेक्ट्रिीशियन और मैकेनिकों से भी पुलिस पूछताछ कर रही है। पुलिस को कुछ पुराने कर्मचारियों के फोटो भी मिले हैं जिसका स्केच से मिलान किया जा रहा है। कर्मचारियों को भी यह स्केच दिखाया गया है।
पांच टीमें रवाना
आरोपियों का सुराग लगाने और उनकी धरपकड़ के लिए बनाई गई राजधानी पुलिस की पांच टीमें भोपाल से रवाना हो गई हैं। पुलिस की टीमें जयपुर, दिल्ली, मुंबई, बंगलौर और इंदौर गई हैं। पुलिस का कहना है कि इंदौर को छोड़ कर अन्य चारों शहरों में कंपनी के दफ्तर में इसी तर्ज पर डकैती की वारदात हो चुकी हैं। पुलिस वारदात और उसके तरीके की जानकारी जुटाएगी।
सघन चेकिंग अभियान
राजधानी के सीमावर्ती इलाके में पुलिस की सघन चेकिंग चल रही है। मिसरोद, रातीबड़, खजूरी, परवलिया, सूखी सेवनिया, निशातपुरा और बिलखिरिया में चेकिंग प्वाइंट लगाए गए हैं। जाने वाले सभी वाहनों को चेकिंग के बाद ही भोपाल की सीमा से बाहर जाने दिया जा रहा है। पुलिस यात्री बसों से लेकर दुपहिया वाहनों तक की चेकिंग कर रही है। पुलिस ने अभियान की सफलता के लिए बुधवार रात शहर में कांबिंग गश्त भी की है।
Date: 26-08-2010
भोपाल। मणप्पुरम गोल्ड फाइनेंस कंपनी में हुई ढाई करोड़ रुपए की डकैती में पुलिस को कंपनी के पुराने कर्मचारियों पर शक है। अब तक एक दर्जन से अधिक पुराने कर्मचारियों से पूछताछ की जा चुकी है। आईजी भोपाल डा. शैलेंद्र श्रीवास्तव ने डकैतों पर पंद्रह हजार रुपए का ईनाम घोषित किया है। उन्होंने एक लाख रुपए का ईनाम घोषित करने का प्रस्ताव पुलिस मुख्यालय के माध्यम से राज्य सरकार को भेजा है।
सोमवार को नकाबपोश बदमाश मणप्पुरम गोल्ड फाइनेंस कंपनी के दफ्तर से करीब ढाई करोड़ रुपए का सोना लूट ले गए थे। उसके बाद से पुलिस को अभी तक आरोपियों का सुराग नहीं लगा है। पुलिस को कंपनी के पुराने कर्मचारियों पर संदेह होने की वजह है वारदात के समय लुटेरों की वह धमकी जिसमें उन्होंने कहा था कि उन्हें सबके बारे में पता है। कौन कब से इस कंपनी में काम कर रहा है। कब स्थानांतरित होकर आया है और कौन-कहां रह रहा है। पुलिस ने कंपनी के कर्मचारियों के बताए हुलिए के आधार पर संदेहियों का स्केच जारी किया है। पुलिस चौराहे पर लगाए गए कैमरे का वीडियो फुटेज निकाल कर उक्त स्केच का मिलान भी कर रही है। उसी आधार पर पुलिस ने कुछ संदेहियों से भी पूछताछ की है। पुलिस अब तक पुराने बदमाशों, बैंक के पुराने कर्मचारियों और नए कर्मचारियों से भी पूछताछ कर चुकी है। पुलिस को पुराने कर्मचारियों पर इसलिए भी शक है कि उन्हें बखूबी पता था कि कंपनी में कैमरे नहीं लगे हैं। कंपनी के पुराने इलेक्ट्रिीशियन और मैकेनिकों से भी पुलिस पूछताछ कर रही है। पुलिस को कुछ पुराने कर्मचारियों के फोटो भी मिले हैं जिसका स्केच से मिलान किया जा रहा है। कर्मचारियों को भी यह स्केच दिखाया गया है।
पांच टीमें रवाना
आरोपियों का सुराग लगाने और उनकी धरपकड़ के लिए बनाई गई राजधानी पुलिस की पांच टीमें भोपाल से रवाना हो गई हैं। पुलिस की टीमें जयपुर, दिल्ली, मुंबई, बंगलौर और इंदौर गई हैं। पुलिस का कहना है कि इंदौर को छोड़ कर अन्य चारों शहरों में कंपनी के दफ्तर में इसी तर्ज पर डकैती की वारदात हो चुकी हैं। पुलिस वारदात और उसके तरीके की जानकारी जुटाएगी।
सघन चेकिंग अभियान
राजधानी के सीमावर्ती इलाके में पुलिस की सघन चेकिंग चल रही है। मिसरोद, रातीबड़, खजूरी, परवलिया, सूखी सेवनिया, निशातपुरा और बिलखिरिया में चेकिंग प्वाइंट लगाए गए हैं। जाने वाले सभी वाहनों को चेकिंग के बाद ही भोपाल की सीमा से बाहर जाने दिया जा रहा है। पुलिस यात्री बसों से लेकर दुपहिया वाहनों तक की चेकिंग कर रही है। पुलिस ने अभियान की सफलता के लिए बुधवार रात शहर में कांबिंग गश्त भी की है।
Date: 26-08-2010
मणप्पुरम गोल्ड फायनेंस कंपनी में डकैती पर मुख्यमंत्री गंभीर
मणप्पुरम गोल्ड फायनेंस कंपनी में डकैती पर मुख्यमंत्री गंभीर
आरोपियों को हर हाल में पकड़ने के निर्देश, मुख्यमंत्री चौहान ने की गृह और पुलिस विभाग से चर्चा
Bhopal:Tuesday, August 24, 2010: मुख्यमंत्री श्री शिवराजसिंह चौहान ने मणप्पुरम गोल्ड फाइनेंस कंपनी के भोपाल स्थित कार्यालय में हुई डकैती के आरोपियों को हर हाल में पकड़ने के निर्देश दिये हैं। मुख्यमंत्री श्री चौहान ने कहा कि डकैती, लूट और जघन्य हत्या जैसे गंभीर अपराधों की जाँच और उसकी सतत् मानिटरिंग के लिये पुलिस मुख्यालय के स्तर पर विशेष व्यवस्था की जाये। मुख्यमंत्री श्री चौहान आज निवास पर गृह और पुलिस विभाग के वरिष्ठ अधिकारियों से चर्चा कर रहे थे।
बैठक में गृह मंत्री श्री उमाशंकर गुप्ता, मुख्य सचिव श्री अवनि वैश्य, पुलिस महानिदेशक श्री एस.के. राउत, प्रमुख सचिव गृह श्री राजन कटोच, अतिरिक्त पुलिस महानिदेशक (गुप्त वार्ता) श्री ऋषि कुमार शुक्ला, पुलिस महानिरीक्षक श्री शैलेन्द्र श्रीवास्तव, वरिष्ठ पुलिस अधीक्षक भोपाल श्री आदर्श कटियार उपस्थित थे।
मुख्यमंत्री श्री चौहान ने कहा कि हाल ही में इन्दौर में हुई लूट और अब भोपाल की इस डकैती से पुलिस में जनता के विश्वास को ठेस पहुंची है। इस स्थिति को दूर करने के लिये दोनों वारदातों के अरोपियों को जल्दी पकड़ा जाये।
मुख्यमंत्री श्री चौहान ने अधिकारियों को निर्देशित किया कि वे पूरे प्रदेश में फायनेंस कंपनियों के कार्यालय की सुरक्षा व्यवस्था का परीक्षण करें। उन्होंने कहा कि पुलिस और रिजर्व बैंक ऑफ इंडिया के सुरक्षा मापदण्डों के अनुसार सुरक्षा व्यवस्था न रखने वाली कंपनियों के विरूद्ध उनकी व्यावसायिक अनुज्ञप्ति निरस्त करने की कार्रवाई की जाये।
मुख्यमंत्री श्री चौहान ने पुलिस प्रशासन को पुलिस बल में वृद्धि और वाहनों और अन्य सर्विसेस उपकरणों की स्वीकृति संबंधी राज्य शासन के फैसलों पर शीघ्र अमल करने को भी कहा। उन्होंने कहा कि पर्याप्त बल और साधनों की उपलब्धता से पुलिस को अपने काम और नागरिकों को सुरक्षा देने में सहूलियत होगी।
पुलिस महानिरीक्षक श्री शैलेन्द्र श्रीवास्तव ने मुख्यमंत्री को घटना की विस्तार से जानकारी दी। उन्होंने पुलिस द्वारा अब तक की गई कार्रवाई और उसके निष्कर्षों से भी श्री चौहान को अवगत करवाया।
आरोपियों को हर हाल में पकड़ने के निर्देश, मुख्यमंत्री चौहान ने की गृह और पुलिस विभाग से चर्चा
Bhopal:Tuesday, August 24, 2010: मुख्यमंत्री श्री शिवराजसिंह चौहान ने मणप्पुरम गोल्ड फाइनेंस कंपनी के भोपाल स्थित कार्यालय में हुई डकैती के आरोपियों को हर हाल में पकड़ने के निर्देश दिये हैं। मुख्यमंत्री श्री चौहान ने कहा कि डकैती, लूट और जघन्य हत्या जैसे गंभीर अपराधों की जाँच और उसकी सतत् मानिटरिंग के लिये पुलिस मुख्यालय के स्तर पर विशेष व्यवस्था की जाये। मुख्यमंत्री श्री चौहान आज निवास पर गृह और पुलिस विभाग के वरिष्ठ अधिकारियों से चर्चा कर रहे थे।
बैठक में गृह मंत्री श्री उमाशंकर गुप्ता, मुख्य सचिव श्री अवनि वैश्य, पुलिस महानिदेशक श्री एस.के. राउत, प्रमुख सचिव गृह श्री राजन कटोच, अतिरिक्त पुलिस महानिदेशक (गुप्त वार्ता) श्री ऋषि कुमार शुक्ला, पुलिस महानिरीक्षक श्री शैलेन्द्र श्रीवास्तव, वरिष्ठ पुलिस अधीक्षक भोपाल श्री आदर्श कटियार उपस्थित थे।
मुख्यमंत्री श्री चौहान ने कहा कि हाल ही में इन्दौर में हुई लूट और अब भोपाल की इस डकैती से पुलिस में जनता के विश्वास को ठेस पहुंची है। इस स्थिति को दूर करने के लिये दोनों वारदातों के अरोपियों को जल्दी पकड़ा जाये।
मुख्यमंत्री श्री चौहान ने अधिकारियों को निर्देशित किया कि वे पूरे प्रदेश में फायनेंस कंपनियों के कार्यालय की सुरक्षा व्यवस्था का परीक्षण करें। उन्होंने कहा कि पुलिस और रिजर्व बैंक ऑफ इंडिया के सुरक्षा मापदण्डों के अनुसार सुरक्षा व्यवस्था न रखने वाली कंपनियों के विरूद्ध उनकी व्यावसायिक अनुज्ञप्ति निरस्त करने की कार्रवाई की जाये।
मुख्यमंत्री श्री चौहान ने पुलिस प्रशासन को पुलिस बल में वृद्धि और वाहनों और अन्य सर्विसेस उपकरणों की स्वीकृति संबंधी राज्य शासन के फैसलों पर शीघ्र अमल करने को भी कहा। उन्होंने कहा कि पर्याप्त बल और साधनों की उपलब्धता से पुलिस को अपने काम और नागरिकों को सुरक्षा देने में सहूलियत होगी।
पुलिस महानिरीक्षक श्री शैलेन्द्र श्रीवास्तव ने मुख्यमंत्री को घटना की विस्तार से जानकारी दी। उन्होंने पुलिस द्वारा अब तक की गई कार्रवाई और उसके निष्कर्षों से भी श्री चौहान को अवगत करवाया।
दिन दहाड़े मणप्पुरम से लूटा सोना
दिन दहाड़े मणप्पुरम से लूटा सोना
दो पेट्रोल पंपों पर भी लूट, बीच?बचाव में एक की मौत
भोपाल 2 अगस्त 2010। राजधानी में कट्टे की नोंक पर लगभग 13 किलो सोना लूट लिया, जबकि शहर के करीब के दो पेट्रोल पंपो पर धावा बोलकर लूटपाट की और बीच?बचाव के चलते एक वृद्व को अपनी जान गंवानी पड़ी। हनुमानगंज इलाके की मणप्पुरम में आज सुबह 11 बजे बैंक जैसे ही खुली वैसे ही आधा दर्जन सशस्त्र बदमाश एक फानेंस कंपनी के आफिस में घुस गए और उन्होंने अंदर से दरवाजा बंद करके सभी कर्मचारी व ग्राहकों को बंधक बनाकर 13 किलो सोना लूट लिया। ये सभी अपने हाथों में कट्टे लहरा रहे थे और बेखौफ होकर ऑफिस के अंदर लूटपाट कर रहे थे। लूटपाट के बाद सभी बदमाश बाहर से कार्यालय की सटकनी लगाकर भाग निकले। इधर दुपाड़िया गांव स्थित एसआर पेट्रोल पंप पर सुबह 8 बजे 4 बदमाशों ने पथराव करके पंप के रूपए लूब् लिए। इस दौरान बीच बचाव करने की कोशिश कर रहे एक व्यक्ति को अपनी जान गंवानी पड़ी। बदमाशों के पथराव से जान गंवा बैठे व्यक्ति का नाम गोकुलप्रसाद बताया गया है। वहीं खजूरी क्षेत्र स्थित फंदा गांव के रचना पेट्रोल पंप पर भी बदमाशों ने एक पंपकर्मी को घायल कर लूटपाट की।
दो पेट्रोल पंपों पर भी लूट, बीच?बचाव में एक की मौत
भोपाल 2 अगस्त 2010। राजधानी में कट्टे की नोंक पर लगभग 13 किलो सोना लूट लिया, जबकि शहर के करीब के दो पेट्रोल पंपो पर धावा बोलकर लूटपाट की और बीच?बचाव के चलते एक वृद्व को अपनी जान गंवानी पड़ी। हनुमानगंज इलाके की मणप्पुरम में आज सुबह 11 बजे बैंक जैसे ही खुली वैसे ही आधा दर्जन सशस्त्र बदमाश एक फानेंस कंपनी के आफिस में घुस गए और उन्होंने अंदर से दरवाजा बंद करके सभी कर्मचारी व ग्राहकों को बंधक बनाकर 13 किलो सोना लूट लिया। ये सभी अपने हाथों में कट्टे लहरा रहे थे और बेखौफ होकर ऑफिस के अंदर लूटपाट कर रहे थे। लूटपाट के बाद सभी बदमाश बाहर से कार्यालय की सटकनी लगाकर भाग निकले। इधर दुपाड़िया गांव स्थित एसआर पेट्रोल पंप पर सुबह 8 बजे 4 बदमाशों ने पथराव करके पंप के रूपए लूब् लिए। इस दौरान बीच बचाव करने की कोशिश कर रहे एक व्यक्ति को अपनी जान गंवानी पड़ी। बदमाशों के पथराव से जान गंवा बैठे व्यक्ति का नाम गोकुलप्रसाद बताया गया है। वहीं खजूरी क्षेत्र स्थित फंदा गांव के रचना पेट्रोल पंप पर भी बदमाशों ने एक पंपकर्मी को घायल कर लूटपाट की।
प्रधानमंत्री अमरीकी राष्ट्रति के समक्ष भोपाल गैसकांड का मुद्दा उठायें
प्रधानमंत्री अमरीकी राष्ट्रति के समक्ष भोपाल गैसकांड का मुद्दा उठायें
भोपाल। भाजपा अध्यक्ष नितिन गडकरी ने आज कहा कि प्रधानमंत्री मनमोहन सिंह को अमरीका के राष्ट्रपति बराक ओबामा की प्रस्तावित भारत यात्रा के दौरान भोपाल गैसकांड का मुद्दा दृढता के साथ उठाने के साथ इसके दोषियों को भारत को सौंपने की बात करनी चाहिए।
श्री गडकरी ने यहां संवाददाताओं से कहा कि 26 वर्ष बाद भी भोपाल गैसकांड के मृतकों के आश्रितों और पीडितों को न्याय नही मिला है। गैसकांड में 20 हजार से अधिक मौतें और पांच लाख से ज्यादा लोगों के प्रभावित होने के बावजूद आज तक किसी की जवाबदेही तय न हो पाना गैस पीडितों को न्याय और राहत मिलने में सबसे बडी बाधा बना हुआ है। उन्होंने कहा कांग्रेस नेतृत्व भोपाल गैस त्रासदी से हुए नरसंहार के पाप से बच नहीं सकता है। अपने दोषों को छिपाने के उद्देश्य से कांग्रेस के नेतृत्व वाली केन्द्र सरकार ने यूनियन कार्बाइड के तत्कालीन प्रमुख वारेन एंडरसन को वापस भारत लाने की घोषणा की है। हम ऐसे किसी भी प्रयास में सरकार का पूरा सहयोग करेंगे, लेकिन क्या वर्तमान केन्द्र सरकार अमरीका से यह मांग करने का साहस कर पायेगी।.. श्री गडकरी ने कहा कि प्रधानमंत्री अपनी पिछली अमरीका यात्रा के दौरान श्री ओबामा के सामने यह मुद्दा नहीं उठा पाये । अब फिर मौका है कि प्रधानमंत्री श्री ओबामा की प्रस्तावित भारत यात्रा के समय दृढता से यह मुद्दा उठायें और दोषियों को भारत को सौंपने में सहयोग करने की बात रखें।
श्री गडकरी ने कहा .. यदि हमारे प्रधानमंत्री अमरीका के राष्ट्रपति के सामने यह मुद्दा नहीं उठाते हैं तो लोकसभा और राज्यसभा में भाजपा के नेता श्री ओबामा के सामने यह मुद्दा उठायेंगे। ... भाजपा अध्यक्ष ने भोपाल गैसकांड के संबंध में मध्यप्रदेश के मुख्यमंत्री शिवराज सिंह के न्यायिक जांच आयोग गठित करने के निर्णय तथा गैस पीडितों के पुर्नवास और चिकित्सा संबंधी किये गये प्रयासों की प्रशंसा की । उन्होंने कहा कि इस मामले में प्रदेश भाजपा सरकार और पार्टी के विधायकों तथा सांसदों ने केन्द्र सरकार का ध्यान आकृष्ट करने के उद्देश्य से दिल्ली में धरना प्रदर्शन भी किया है। उन्होंने कहा कि कांग्रेस नेतृत्व को यह बताना ही पडेगा कि यूनियन कार्बाइड के तत्कालीन प्रमुख वारेन एंडरसन को भारत से भगाने में क्या सौदेबाजी हुई और यह सौदेबाजी किसने की है। श्री गडकरी ने कहा कि राज्यसभा में इस मामले पर हुई बहस में कांग्रेस नेता अर्जुन सिंह से उम्मीद थी कि वह अभी तक अनुत्तरित सवालों के जवाब देंगे और रहस्यों से पर्दा उठायेंगे लेकिन श्री सिंह ने लोगों के विश्वास से एक बार फिर छल किया । पहला छल श्री सिंह ने गैस त्रासदी के समय मुख्यमंत्री रहते इुए इसके असली दोषियों के चेहरे से नकाब न उठाकर किया था। उन्होंने कहा कि सत्य को दबाकर कांग्रेस इतिहास
भोपाल। भाजपा अध्यक्ष नितिन गडकरी ने आज कहा कि प्रधानमंत्री मनमोहन सिंह को अमरीका के राष्ट्रपति बराक ओबामा की प्रस्तावित भारत यात्रा के दौरान भोपाल गैसकांड का मुद्दा दृढता के साथ उठाने के साथ इसके दोषियों को भारत को सौंपने की बात करनी चाहिए।
श्री गडकरी ने यहां संवाददाताओं से कहा कि 26 वर्ष बाद भी भोपाल गैसकांड के मृतकों के आश्रितों और पीडितों को न्याय नही मिला है। गैसकांड में 20 हजार से अधिक मौतें और पांच लाख से ज्यादा लोगों के प्रभावित होने के बावजूद आज तक किसी की जवाबदेही तय न हो पाना गैस पीडितों को न्याय और राहत मिलने में सबसे बडी बाधा बना हुआ है। उन्होंने कहा कांग्रेस नेतृत्व भोपाल गैस त्रासदी से हुए नरसंहार के पाप से बच नहीं सकता है। अपने दोषों को छिपाने के उद्देश्य से कांग्रेस के नेतृत्व वाली केन्द्र सरकार ने यूनियन कार्बाइड के तत्कालीन प्रमुख वारेन एंडरसन को वापस भारत लाने की घोषणा की है। हम ऐसे किसी भी प्रयास में सरकार का पूरा सहयोग करेंगे, लेकिन क्या वर्तमान केन्द्र सरकार अमरीका से यह मांग करने का साहस कर पायेगी।.. श्री गडकरी ने कहा कि प्रधानमंत्री अपनी पिछली अमरीका यात्रा के दौरान श्री ओबामा के सामने यह मुद्दा नहीं उठा पाये । अब फिर मौका है कि प्रधानमंत्री श्री ओबामा की प्रस्तावित भारत यात्रा के समय दृढता से यह मुद्दा उठायें और दोषियों को भारत को सौंपने में सहयोग करने की बात रखें।
श्री गडकरी ने कहा .. यदि हमारे प्रधानमंत्री अमरीका के राष्ट्रपति के सामने यह मुद्दा नहीं उठाते हैं तो लोकसभा और राज्यसभा में भाजपा के नेता श्री ओबामा के सामने यह मुद्दा उठायेंगे। ... भाजपा अध्यक्ष ने भोपाल गैसकांड के संबंध में मध्यप्रदेश के मुख्यमंत्री शिवराज सिंह के न्यायिक जांच आयोग गठित करने के निर्णय तथा गैस पीडितों के पुर्नवास और चिकित्सा संबंधी किये गये प्रयासों की प्रशंसा की । उन्होंने कहा कि इस मामले में प्रदेश भाजपा सरकार और पार्टी के विधायकों तथा सांसदों ने केन्द्र सरकार का ध्यान आकृष्ट करने के उद्देश्य से दिल्ली में धरना प्रदर्शन भी किया है। उन्होंने कहा कि कांग्रेस नेतृत्व को यह बताना ही पडेगा कि यूनियन कार्बाइड के तत्कालीन प्रमुख वारेन एंडरसन को भारत से भगाने में क्या सौदेबाजी हुई और यह सौदेबाजी किसने की है। श्री गडकरी ने कहा कि राज्यसभा में इस मामले पर हुई बहस में कांग्रेस नेता अर्जुन सिंह से उम्मीद थी कि वह अभी तक अनुत्तरित सवालों के जवाब देंगे और रहस्यों से पर्दा उठायेंगे लेकिन श्री सिंह ने लोगों के विश्वास से एक बार फिर छल किया । पहला छल श्री सिंह ने गैस त्रासदी के समय मुख्यमंत्री रहते इुए इसके असली दोषियों के चेहरे से नकाब न उठाकर किया था। उन्होंने कहा कि सत्य को दबाकर कांग्रेस इतिहास
Cheap PTDR technology exists in India for disposal of Bhopal Union Carbide’s toxic waste at plant’s site
Cheap PTDR technology exists in India for disposal of Bhopal Union Carbide’s toxic waste at plant’s site
No collateral damage to environment or people living nearby, claims PEAT International Co.
Bhopal, August 22 (Pervez Bari): Cheer up. There is some good news for the survivors of Bhopal gas tragedy, the world’s worst industrial disaster, including the NGOs working for them and the Madhya Pradesh Government as far as disposing off the toxic waste lying in the erstwhile killer Union Carbide pesticide plant, which has become an enigma for one and all, is concerned.
The good news is that a technology known as Plasma Thermal Destruction Recovery, (PTDR), of a company christened as PEAT International, is available in India to clean up the Bhopal Union Carbide plant’s toxic waste effectively and cleanly at site itself without having to transport the hazardous material to any far off place for its disposal. It can be disposed off at the site within the premises of the Union Carbide factory at Bhopal without creating any collateral damage to the environment and / or the people living in the surrounding areas of the facility, claims Peat International.
According to Pradeep Mathur, CEO India for PEAT International India, if the said technology is adopted for the treatment of this waste, then the problem will be completely resolved, requiring no further treatment and without any requirement of land filling, the company claims. The facility once constructed will be available for treating other wastes even after the treatment of the waste is completed.
Talking to this correspondent Mr. Mathur said the cost of the treatment is also very nominal. For about 350 metric tonnes (MT) toxic waste, PTDR-100 unit would suffice and the cost may come around to Rs. 50 to 60 million only. It is interesting to note here that the Union Government has earmarked Rs. 3000 millions for the 350 MT toxic waste kept in the factory godown. Thus, this cost amount of Rs. 50 to 60 million would be just 1.5 per cent of the sanctioned amount Rs. 3000 millions which is dam cheap.
It would be better in the interests of the survivors and the Madhya Pradesh Government itself if it contacts the Peat International India officials as soon as possible and discuss the whole issue of toxic waste disposal immediately without any delay. After taking overall view of the matter the state Government must weigh the options available to it so far with the huge cost involved. It should initiate steps for it on priority basis at the first go looking at the very cheap cost involved to solve the issue which has been hanging on fire for over last 25 years.
PEAT International (“PEAT”), which is headquartered in Northbrook, Illinois, its chairman being Mr. Joseph Rosin, is a waste-to-resources company specializing in the deployment of its proprietary PTDR technology for the treatment and recycling of a wide range of waste feed-stocks, including: industrial, universal and medical waste.
According to Mr. Mathur the novel and patented PTDR technology uses heat generated by plasma torches in an oxygen starved (pyrolysis) environment to first pull apart (dissociate) the molecules that make-up the organic portions of the waste, then, depending on the composition of the waste stream, a controlled (stoichiometric) amount of oxygen is added to reform the dissociated elements of the waste into a synthesis gas ("Syngas"), consisting mainly of Carbon Monoxide (CO) and Hydrogen (H2). The Syngas can then be used in a variety of ways: as a fuel for thermal or electricity production or as a feedstock for the production of liquid fuels (i.e. ethanol).
No collateral damage to environment or people living nearby, claims PEAT International Co.
Bhopal, August 22 (Pervez Bari): Cheer up. There is some good news for the survivors of Bhopal gas tragedy, the world’s worst industrial disaster, including the NGOs working for them and the Madhya Pradesh Government as far as disposing off the toxic waste lying in the erstwhile killer Union Carbide pesticide plant, which has become an enigma for one and all, is concerned.
The good news is that a technology known as Plasma Thermal Destruction Recovery, (PTDR), of a company christened as PEAT International, is available in India to clean up the Bhopal Union Carbide plant’s toxic waste effectively and cleanly at site itself without having to transport the hazardous material to any far off place for its disposal. It can be disposed off at the site within the premises of the Union Carbide factory at Bhopal without creating any collateral damage to the environment and / or the people living in the surrounding areas of the facility, claims Peat International.
According to Pradeep Mathur, CEO India for PEAT International India, if the said technology is adopted for the treatment of this waste, then the problem will be completely resolved, requiring no further treatment and without any requirement of land filling, the company claims. The facility once constructed will be available for treating other wastes even after the treatment of the waste is completed.
Talking to this correspondent Mr. Mathur said the cost of the treatment is also very nominal. For about 350 metric tonnes (MT) toxic waste, PTDR-100 unit would suffice and the cost may come around to Rs. 50 to 60 million only. It is interesting to note here that the Union Government has earmarked Rs. 3000 millions for the 350 MT toxic waste kept in the factory godown. Thus, this cost amount of Rs. 50 to 60 million would be just 1.5 per cent of the sanctioned amount Rs. 3000 millions which is dam cheap.
It would be better in the interests of the survivors and the Madhya Pradesh Government itself if it contacts the Peat International India officials as soon as possible and discuss the whole issue of toxic waste disposal immediately without any delay. After taking overall view of the matter the state Government must weigh the options available to it so far with the huge cost involved. It should initiate steps for it on priority basis at the first go looking at the very cheap cost involved to solve the issue which has been hanging on fire for over last 25 years.
PEAT International (“PEAT”), which is headquartered in Northbrook, Illinois, its chairman being Mr. Joseph Rosin, is a waste-to-resources company specializing in the deployment of its proprietary PTDR technology for the treatment and recycling of a wide range of waste feed-stocks, including: industrial, universal and medical waste.
According to Mr. Mathur the novel and patented PTDR technology uses heat generated by plasma torches in an oxygen starved (pyrolysis) environment to first pull apart (dissociate) the molecules that make-up the organic portions of the waste, then, depending on the composition of the waste stream, a controlled (stoichiometric) amount of oxygen is added to reform the dissociated elements of the waste into a synthesis gas ("Syngas"), consisting mainly of Carbon Monoxide (CO) and Hydrogen (H2). The Syngas can then be used in a variety of ways: as a fuel for thermal or electricity production or as a feedstock for the production of liquid fuels (i.e. ethanol).
Bhopal Gas-hit Survivors Still Afflicted with Diseases, Progenies Being Born with Birth-related Defects
Bhopal Gas-hit Survivors Still Afflicted with Diseases, Progenies Being Born with Birth-related Defects
By Pervez Bari
Despair and depression is writ large on the faces of the survivors of Bhopal Gas Tragedy, the world's worst industrial disaster, as they continue to suffer silently with death staring them in their faces. The helplessness of these victims is to be seen to be believed as they watch their progenies afflicted with stunted growth born with a host of birth-related defects. With the upcoming 25th anniversary of the catastrophe a new generation has come up which is handicapped physically, mentally and emotionally.
This scenario and state of affairs is thanks to the fall-out of the poisonous. 40 tonnes of Methyl Iso Cyanate, (MIC), and other lethal gases that spewed out of the Union Carbide Corporation’s pesticide plant in Bhopal, the capital city of central Indian state of Madhya Pradesh, on the intervening night of December 2-3, 1984, exposing over 5,00,000 people to the toxic fumes. While 25,000-35,000 people have died since then and hundreds of thousands of persons have been maimed for life.
Children still being born in Bhopal to badly affected survivors are blind, lame, with limbs twisted or missing, deaf & mute, brain-damaged, with hare-lips, cleft palates, webbed
A Bhopal child with tumour in her eyeball
fingers, cerebral palsy, tumours where there should be eyes etc. The still-born often cannot be recognised as human. They were damaged in the womb by chemicals leaking from the same Union Carbide factory that killed thousands in 1984 and to-date still counting.
Bhopal is well known as the site of the world's worst industrial disaster in 1984. What is less well known is that a medical disaster of unmatched proportions continues to re-victimize the gas victims to this day.
Following the gas disaster the Indian Council of Medical Research,(ICMR), a government agency – concluded, on the basis of mortality figures, that over 520,000 exposed persons had poisons circulating in their bloodstream causing different degrees of damage to almost all the systems in the body.
Today, well over 120,000-150,000 chronically ill survivors are in desperate need of medical attention and an estimated 10 to 15 people are dying every month from exposure-related illnesses. Breathlessness, persistent cough, diminished vision, early age cataracts, loss of appetite, menstrual irregularities, recurrent fever, back and body aches, loss of sensation in the limbs, fatigue, weakness, anxiety and depression are the most common symptoms among survivors. The alarming rise in cancers, TB, reproductive health problems and others such as growth retardation among children born after the disaster remain undocumented. The official agency for monitoring deaths has
Adil, child of a gas-victim, born with croocked legs
been closed since 1992.
According to Dr. N. Ganesh, an expert from Jawaharlal Nehru Cancer Hospital and Research Centre, the research conducted by him revealed that 53 per cent of the gas victims suffer from chromosomal aberrations as compared to 10 per cent common people. Also the rate of infertility and abortions are four to five per cent higher in gas victims, he added.
A recent survey says that 43 per cent of the gas victims still suffer from respiratory problems, 10 per cent from heart-related problems, nine per cent with eye problems, eight per cent with general depression problems and six per cent with gastro-intestinal problems.
To this day, the treatment of the Bhopal victims is impeded because Dow-Carbide callously refuses to share all its medical information on the toxic effects of the gases released that night, regarding the information as a “trade secret”. As a result, effective long-term medical treatment has been hampered. Even worse, the effects of the gases on future generations remains unclear even as health effects manifest themselves with disturbing regularity among the children of gas-exposed parents. Since the disaster, the city has been plagued with an epidemic of cancers, menstrual disorders and what one doctor described as "monstrous births.”
It may be recalled here that in a show of publicity as the bodies stacked up, Carbide flew a series of “top medical experts” to Bhopal to sing a chorus of reassurance. Dr. Hans Weil - reprimanded for unethical conduct by a US court for fudging medical data on behalf of the Johns-Manville corporation - predicted that ‘most victims would fully recover’. Pulmonary specialist Thomas Petty, also flown to Bhopal by Carbide, said that victims were ‘recovering rapidly’. No report made by Carbide-sponsored doctors was made available to the Indian government.
It may be recalled that in March 1985, a column of frightened mothers-to-be wound towards a government hospital with bottles containing urine samples. The women asked for the samples to be tested to check whether their babies could be born damaged, and to ask for sodium thiosulphate injections to rid their bodies of toxins inhaled on ‘that night’.
Instead of injections, tests, medical advice and kindness they were driven away by police with sticks. Ironically, even as these scared women were being chased away, the Indian Council of Medical Research, (ICMR), was carrying out a double-blind clinical trial to test the efficacy of sodium thiosulphate injections as
Six year old Sarmil born blind
a detoxifycant for the gas-exposed.
Other ‘expertise’ included Carbide’s Dr. Bipin Awasia, who sent a telex to Bhopal recommending treatment with sodium thiosulphate. When in Bhopal, flanked by lawyers, he said he’d been mistaken. As a result, tens of thousands of ailing victims were denied a treatment that double blind clinical trials had shown to be effective. Success of the treatment would have proven that the gases had crossed into the bloodstream, thus generating more expensive damages against Carbide.
And while the fears of mothers-to-be were all too soon realized in what one Swedish doctor described as ‘a spate of horrific births’, the ICMR results took 22 years to be published, when they revealed – a whole generation too late – that the injections could indeed have saved tens of thousands of lives. The disaster has faded in the world's memory, but in Bhopal the damaged births continue.
Union Carbide (now Dow Chemical,
Foetus of an unborn child of 3rd December 1984 Bhopal gas leak preserved in formaldehyde in Govt. Hamidia Hospital.
following the February 2001 merger) continues to claim over 60 years of research (including research on human 'volunteers') on MIC (the gas that leaked from the Bhopal pesticide plant) as “trade secrets”. There is more than enough research to suggest that by withholding information, propagating misinformation and the withdrawal of funds meant for medical care, Union Carbide has impeded the health care efforts of the victims to help themselves. The ICMR in turn stopped all research into the health effects of the gas in 1994 and is yet to publish the findings of the 24 research studies it had carried out up to that point involving over 80,000 survivors.
From the start, the medical response ranged from inadequate to catastrophic. On that night, hospital officials frantically called Union Carbide, seeking a treatment protocol. When they finally got through, they were blithely assured that the gas which was killing thousands was “nothing more than a potent tear gas” and that victims merely had to “wash their eyes with water.”
In the absence of medical information, no treatment protocols specific to exposure-induced multi-systemic problems exist and symptomatic treatment remains the mainstay of medical response. Of the two official publications resembling treatment protocols, the most recent by the ICMR is 11 years old and covers little except the management of respiratory problems, and the vast majority of the medical community in Bhopal is not even aware of its existence. As a result, drugs for temporary symptomatic relief have been the mainstay of medical care ever since the morning of the disaster. This indiscriminate prescription of steroids, antibiotics and psychotropic drugs continues to compound the damage caused by gas exposure.
In the prevailing situation of despair, the Sambhavna Trust, which is a charitable trust run by a group of eminent doctors, scientists, writers and social workers who have been involved with various aspects of the Union Carbide disaster ever since its occurrence in December 1984, believes in creating possibilities by generating compassion. At Sambhavna, survivors are offered free medical care through Allopathy, Ayurveda (an indigenous system of medicine based on herbs) and Yoga. The 21 staff members of the Sambhavna clinic (among whom 9 are survivors themselves) include five physicians, two yoga and two Panchakarma therapists and five community health workers who carry out health surveys, health education and community programs for better health. Satinath Sarangi, the metallurgical engineer-turned-activist, who arrived in Bhopal a day after the disaster and has stayed on to help the survivors in every way. Better known as Sathyu, he is a founding trustee of the charitable Sambhavna Clinic for the gas victims. The work carried out by the Sambhavna Trust since 1996 has shown that it is possible to evolve simple, safe, effective, ethical and participatory ways of treatment monitoring and research for the survivors of Bhopal. However, Sambhavna is small compared to the magnitude and complexity of the disaster. While an estimated 120,000-150,000 survivors of the disaster are today chronically ill, the clinic run by this trust has provided direct treatment to little over 16,000 people and provided support to about the same number through its health initiatives in 10 communities close to the Union Carbide factory.
Women's Health: Given the official neglect towards monitoring and care of gynaecological complications caused by the disaster, special attention is paid by Sambhavna in this area. While officials continue to deny any exposure-related gynaecological health consequence, data collected at Sambhavna shows that of 190 females, aged between 13 and 19, who came to the clinic between 1st June 1999 and 31st March 2000, 113 reported menstrual problems, including painful and irregular menses, heavy bleeding and excessive vaginal secretions.
The secretions, locally as ‘safed pani’ (literally white water), are not often openly discussed because of social taboos. Community health worker Aziza explains, "Women do talk about it more now but are often confined to their houses and can’t talk to their husbands about their problems or get education." Worryingly, Sambhavna’s pathologist has found a high proportion of abnormal PAP smears among women survivors, increasing fears for a connection between cervical cancer and gas exposure. Already in India, cervical cancer is the highest occurring cancer for women, but there is no provision for routine cervical screening in Bhopal. Women who are referred to local hospitals after producing abnormal smears have been reluctant to attend, given that the most common medical procedure for cervical abnormalities is an immediate hysterectomy. This is referred to as a "blind hysterectomy" because no one including the doctor knows how far or how little the malignancy is.
Meanwhile, the Indian Supreme court directed Carbide to build a 500 bed hospital from its own money. Instead, Carbide put £1000 into a trust in London and tried to transfer into this its shares in UCIL that had been seized by the Bhopal court due to Carbide’s non-appearance to face manslaughter charges. In 1994 it succeeded, thus evading the Bhopal court where the judge declared the transfer ‘malafide’. The 350-bed hospital took nearly ten years to build and within a year of opening was found to be profiteering with private patients, despite being bound to treat gas victims for eight years ‘in the first instance’.
So many government hospitals have been built in Bhopal since the 1984 disaster, that, as the International Medical Commission on Bhopal, (IMCB), has observed, there are more hospital beds per 1000 population here than in the USA or Europe. The Comptroller and Auditor General's annual reports suggest that excessive commissions, and not concern for victims' welfare, is the real motive for building these huge hospitals that house seldom-used expensive equipment.
Government initiatives towards identification of survivors have resulted in confusion, corruption and utter discrimination. Consequently there are no credible official figures of the number of victims and the degree and extent of injury. Similarly lacking are systems to document the health status and treatment given to hundreds of thousands of survivors under long-term medical care.
Given the nature of chronic exposure-induced illnesses and the need for continuous medication, systematic efforts towards finding non-toxic drug alternatives or drug-free therapies is long overdue. Such initiatives are even more imperative in the context of the rich possibilities offered by long-established indigenous systems. However, systems of health care such as Ayurveda, Unani and Yoga that are known to provide sustained relief – without contributing to the toxic load – have been given only token recognition within the official system of medical care in Bhopal. The government budgetary allocation to “alternative” medical care is under 1 per cent.
Despite repeated advice from medical professionals, including the IMCB, a community health perspective has failed to inform health care delivery among the gas-affected population. Budgetary allocations to community health services have remained under 2 per cent. As a consequence, such vital areas as health education and community involvement in medical management remain neglected.
While the corporation continues to evade liability for contamination of community water sources, the government has done little to protect over 5000 people from additional exposure and injury. Both Union Carbide [now Dow] and the Indian government are in possession of information on the hazardous and persistent nature of these pollutants, yet no effort is being made to assess the damage, or plan for remediation.
The failure of Madhya Pradesh Government agencies(despite spending over US $43 million of public money) to offer sustained relief has meant big business for private doctors and nursing homes. In the severely affected areas, most of the meagre compensation has been spent on private doctors, nearly 70 per cent of whom are not even professionally qualified, yet they constitute the majority of the medical care providers.
The BMHT (originally set up by Union Carbide) has also been found to be prescribing drugs that do more harm than good. Dr. Rajiv Bhatia, Medical Director of the Department of Public Health in San Francisco, has audited over 400 prescriptions given to chronically ill patients in the Trust's community clinics with alarming conclusions.
It is indeed a shocking situation – people surviving against the most gruesome odds – a company carrying on with “business as usual" – a government that is about to close its files on the "expendable people" of Bhopal – and the prevalent system of health care most probably doing more harm than good.
(pervezbari@eth.net)
By Pervez Bari
Despair and depression is writ large on the faces of the survivors of Bhopal Gas Tragedy, the world's worst industrial disaster, as they continue to suffer silently with death staring them in their faces. The helplessness of these victims is to be seen to be believed as they watch their progenies afflicted with stunted growth born with a host of birth-related defects. With the upcoming 25th anniversary of the catastrophe a new generation has come up which is handicapped physically, mentally and emotionally.
This scenario and state of affairs is thanks to the fall-out of the poisonous. 40 tonnes of Methyl Iso Cyanate, (MIC), and other lethal gases that spewed out of the Union Carbide Corporation’s pesticide plant in Bhopal, the capital city of central Indian state of Madhya Pradesh, on the intervening night of December 2-3, 1984, exposing over 5,00,000 people to the toxic fumes. While 25,000-35,000 people have died since then and hundreds of thousands of persons have been maimed for life.
Children still being born in Bhopal to badly affected survivors are blind, lame, with limbs twisted or missing, deaf & mute, brain-damaged, with hare-lips, cleft palates, webbed
A Bhopal child with tumour in her eyeball
fingers, cerebral palsy, tumours where there should be eyes etc. The still-born often cannot be recognised as human. They were damaged in the womb by chemicals leaking from the same Union Carbide factory that killed thousands in 1984 and to-date still counting.
Bhopal is well known as the site of the world's worst industrial disaster in 1984. What is less well known is that a medical disaster of unmatched proportions continues to re-victimize the gas victims to this day.
Following the gas disaster the Indian Council of Medical Research,(ICMR), a government agency – concluded, on the basis of mortality figures, that over 520,000 exposed persons had poisons circulating in their bloodstream causing different degrees of damage to almost all the systems in the body.
Today, well over 120,000-150,000 chronically ill survivors are in desperate need of medical attention and an estimated 10 to 15 people are dying every month from exposure-related illnesses. Breathlessness, persistent cough, diminished vision, early age cataracts, loss of appetite, menstrual irregularities, recurrent fever, back and body aches, loss of sensation in the limbs, fatigue, weakness, anxiety and depression are the most common symptoms among survivors. The alarming rise in cancers, TB, reproductive health problems and others such as growth retardation among children born after the disaster remain undocumented. The official agency for monitoring deaths has
Adil, child of a gas-victim, born with croocked legs
been closed since 1992.
According to Dr. N. Ganesh, an expert from Jawaharlal Nehru Cancer Hospital and Research Centre, the research conducted by him revealed that 53 per cent of the gas victims suffer from chromosomal aberrations as compared to 10 per cent common people. Also the rate of infertility and abortions are four to five per cent higher in gas victims, he added.
A recent survey says that 43 per cent of the gas victims still suffer from respiratory problems, 10 per cent from heart-related problems, nine per cent with eye problems, eight per cent with general depression problems and six per cent with gastro-intestinal problems.
To this day, the treatment of the Bhopal victims is impeded because Dow-Carbide callously refuses to share all its medical information on the toxic effects of the gases released that night, regarding the information as a “trade secret”. As a result, effective long-term medical treatment has been hampered. Even worse, the effects of the gases on future generations remains unclear even as health effects manifest themselves with disturbing regularity among the children of gas-exposed parents. Since the disaster, the city has been plagued with an epidemic of cancers, menstrual disorders and what one doctor described as "monstrous births.”
It may be recalled here that in a show of publicity as the bodies stacked up, Carbide flew a series of “top medical experts” to Bhopal to sing a chorus of reassurance. Dr. Hans Weil - reprimanded for unethical conduct by a US court for fudging medical data on behalf of the Johns-Manville corporation - predicted that ‘most victims would fully recover’. Pulmonary specialist Thomas Petty, also flown to Bhopal by Carbide, said that victims were ‘recovering rapidly’. No report made by Carbide-sponsored doctors was made available to the Indian government.
It may be recalled that in March 1985, a column of frightened mothers-to-be wound towards a government hospital with bottles containing urine samples. The women asked for the samples to be tested to check whether their babies could be born damaged, and to ask for sodium thiosulphate injections to rid their bodies of toxins inhaled on ‘that night’.
Instead of injections, tests, medical advice and kindness they were driven away by police with sticks. Ironically, even as these scared women were being chased away, the Indian Council of Medical Research, (ICMR), was carrying out a double-blind clinical trial to test the efficacy of sodium thiosulphate injections as
Six year old Sarmil born blind
a detoxifycant for the gas-exposed.
Other ‘expertise’ included Carbide’s Dr. Bipin Awasia, who sent a telex to Bhopal recommending treatment with sodium thiosulphate. When in Bhopal, flanked by lawyers, he said he’d been mistaken. As a result, tens of thousands of ailing victims were denied a treatment that double blind clinical trials had shown to be effective. Success of the treatment would have proven that the gases had crossed into the bloodstream, thus generating more expensive damages against Carbide.
And while the fears of mothers-to-be were all too soon realized in what one Swedish doctor described as ‘a spate of horrific births’, the ICMR results took 22 years to be published, when they revealed – a whole generation too late – that the injections could indeed have saved tens of thousands of lives. The disaster has faded in the world's memory, but in Bhopal the damaged births continue.
Union Carbide (now Dow Chemical,
Foetus of an unborn child of 3rd December 1984 Bhopal gas leak preserved in formaldehyde in Govt. Hamidia Hospital.
following the February 2001 merger) continues to claim over 60 years of research (including research on human 'volunteers') on MIC (the gas that leaked from the Bhopal pesticide plant) as “trade secrets”. There is more than enough research to suggest that by withholding information, propagating misinformation and the withdrawal of funds meant for medical care, Union Carbide has impeded the health care efforts of the victims to help themselves. The ICMR in turn stopped all research into the health effects of the gas in 1994 and is yet to publish the findings of the 24 research studies it had carried out up to that point involving over 80,000 survivors.
From the start, the medical response ranged from inadequate to catastrophic. On that night, hospital officials frantically called Union Carbide, seeking a treatment protocol. When they finally got through, they were blithely assured that the gas which was killing thousands was “nothing more than a potent tear gas” and that victims merely had to “wash their eyes with water.”
In the absence of medical information, no treatment protocols specific to exposure-induced multi-systemic problems exist and symptomatic treatment remains the mainstay of medical response. Of the two official publications resembling treatment protocols, the most recent by the ICMR is 11 years old and covers little except the management of respiratory problems, and the vast majority of the medical community in Bhopal is not even aware of its existence. As a result, drugs for temporary symptomatic relief have been the mainstay of medical care ever since the morning of the disaster. This indiscriminate prescription of steroids, antibiotics and psychotropic drugs continues to compound the damage caused by gas exposure.
In the prevailing situation of despair, the Sambhavna Trust, which is a charitable trust run by a group of eminent doctors, scientists, writers and social workers who have been involved with various aspects of the Union Carbide disaster ever since its occurrence in December 1984, believes in creating possibilities by generating compassion. At Sambhavna, survivors are offered free medical care through Allopathy, Ayurveda (an indigenous system of medicine based on herbs) and Yoga. The 21 staff members of the Sambhavna clinic (among whom 9 are survivors themselves) include five physicians, two yoga and two Panchakarma therapists and five community health workers who carry out health surveys, health education and community programs for better health. Satinath Sarangi, the metallurgical engineer-turned-activist, who arrived in Bhopal a day after the disaster and has stayed on to help the survivors in every way. Better known as Sathyu, he is a founding trustee of the charitable Sambhavna Clinic for the gas victims. The work carried out by the Sambhavna Trust since 1996 has shown that it is possible to evolve simple, safe, effective, ethical and participatory ways of treatment monitoring and research for the survivors of Bhopal. However, Sambhavna is small compared to the magnitude and complexity of the disaster. While an estimated 120,000-150,000 survivors of the disaster are today chronically ill, the clinic run by this trust has provided direct treatment to little over 16,000 people and provided support to about the same number through its health initiatives in 10 communities close to the Union Carbide factory.
Women's Health: Given the official neglect towards monitoring and care of gynaecological complications caused by the disaster, special attention is paid by Sambhavna in this area. While officials continue to deny any exposure-related gynaecological health consequence, data collected at Sambhavna shows that of 190 females, aged between 13 and 19, who came to the clinic between 1st June 1999 and 31st March 2000, 113 reported menstrual problems, including painful and irregular menses, heavy bleeding and excessive vaginal secretions.
The secretions, locally as ‘safed pani’ (literally white water), are not often openly discussed because of social taboos. Community health worker Aziza explains, "Women do talk about it more now but are often confined to their houses and can’t talk to their husbands about their problems or get education." Worryingly, Sambhavna’s pathologist has found a high proportion of abnormal PAP smears among women survivors, increasing fears for a connection between cervical cancer and gas exposure. Already in India, cervical cancer is the highest occurring cancer for women, but there is no provision for routine cervical screening in Bhopal. Women who are referred to local hospitals after producing abnormal smears have been reluctant to attend, given that the most common medical procedure for cervical abnormalities is an immediate hysterectomy. This is referred to as a "blind hysterectomy" because no one including the doctor knows how far or how little the malignancy is.
Meanwhile, the Indian Supreme court directed Carbide to build a 500 bed hospital from its own money. Instead, Carbide put £1000 into a trust in London and tried to transfer into this its shares in UCIL that had been seized by the Bhopal court due to Carbide’s non-appearance to face manslaughter charges. In 1994 it succeeded, thus evading the Bhopal court where the judge declared the transfer ‘malafide’. The 350-bed hospital took nearly ten years to build and within a year of opening was found to be profiteering with private patients, despite being bound to treat gas victims for eight years ‘in the first instance’.
So many government hospitals have been built in Bhopal since the 1984 disaster, that, as the International Medical Commission on Bhopal, (IMCB), has observed, there are more hospital beds per 1000 population here than in the USA or Europe. The Comptroller and Auditor General's annual reports suggest that excessive commissions, and not concern for victims' welfare, is the real motive for building these huge hospitals that house seldom-used expensive equipment.
Government initiatives towards identification of survivors have resulted in confusion, corruption and utter discrimination. Consequently there are no credible official figures of the number of victims and the degree and extent of injury. Similarly lacking are systems to document the health status and treatment given to hundreds of thousands of survivors under long-term medical care.
Given the nature of chronic exposure-induced illnesses and the need for continuous medication, systematic efforts towards finding non-toxic drug alternatives or drug-free therapies is long overdue. Such initiatives are even more imperative in the context of the rich possibilities offered by long-established indigenous systems. However, systems of health care such as Ayurveda, Unani and Yoga that are known to provide sustained relief – without contributing to the toxic load – have been given only token recognition within the official system of medical care in Bhopal. The government budgetary allocation to “alternative” medical care is under 1 per cent.
Despite repeated advice from medical professionals, including the IMCB, a community health perspective has failed to inform health care delivery among the gas-affected population. Budgetary allocations to community health services have remained under 2 per cent. As a consequence, such vital areas as health education and community involvement in medical management remain neglected.
While the corporation continues to evade liability for contamination of community water sources, the government has done little to protect over 5000 people from additional exposure and injury. Both Union Carbide [now Dow] and the Indian government are in possession of information on the hazardous and persistent nature of these pollutants, yet no effort is being made to assess the damage, or plan for remediation.
The failure of Madhya Pradesh Government agencies(despite spending over US $43 million of public money) to offer sustained relief has meant big business for private doctors and nursing homes. In the severely affected areas, most of the meagre compensation has been spent on private doctors, nearly 70 per cent of whom are not even professionally qualified, yet they constitute the majority of the medical care providers.
The BMHT (originally set up by Union Carbide) has also been found to be prescribing drugs that do more harm than good. Dr. Rajiv Bhatia, Medical Director of the Department of Public Health in San Francisco, has audited over 400 prescriptions given to chronically ill patients in the Trust's community clinics with alarming conclusions.
It is indeed a shocking situation – people surviving against the most gruesome odds – a company carrying on with “business as usual" – a government that is about to close its files on the "expendable people" of Bhopal – and the prevalent system of health care most probably doing more harm than good.
(pervezbari@eth.net)
Bhopal disaster
The Bhopal disaster or Bhopal Gas Tragedy is the world's worst industrial catastrophe. It occurred on the night of December 2-3, 1984 at the Union Carbide India Limited (UCIL) pesticide plant in Bhopal, Madhya Pradesh, India. UCIL was the Indian subsidiary of Union Carbide Corporation (UCC). Indian Government controlled banks and the Indian public held a 49.1 percent ownership share. In 1994, the Supreme Court of India allowed UCC to sell its 50.9 percent share. The Bhopal plant was sold to McLeod Russel (India) Ltd. UCC is now a subsidiary of Dow Chemical Company. A leak of methyl isocyanate (MIC) gas and other chemicals from the plant resulted in the exposure of several thousands of people. Estimates vary on the death toll. The official immediate death toll was 2,259 and the government of Madhya Pradesh has confirmed a total of 3,787 deaths related to the gas release.[1] Other government agencies estimate 15,000 deaths.[2] Others estimate that 8,000 died within the first weeks and that another 8,000 have since died from gas-related diseases.[3][4] A government affidavit in 2006 stated the leak caused 558,125 injuries including 38,478 temporary partial and ~3900 severely and permanently disabling injuries.[5]
Chemicals abandoned at the plant continue to leak and pollute the groundwater.[6][7][8] Whether the chemicals pose a health hazard is disputed.[2]
Civil and criminal cases are pending in the United States District Court, Manhattan and the District Court of Bhopal, India, involvng UCC, UCIL employees, and Warren Anderson, UCC CEO at the time of the disaster.[9][10] In June 2010, seven ex-employees, including the former UCIL chairman, were convicted in Bhopal of causing death by negligence and sentenced to two years imprisonment and a fine of about $2,000 each, the maximum punishment allowed by law. An eighth former employee was also convicted but died before judgment was passed
Chemicals abandoned at the plant continue to leak and pollute the groundwater.[6][7][8] Whether the chemicals pose a health hazard is disputed.[2]
Civil and criminal cases are pending in the United States District Court, Manhattan and the District Court of Bhopal, India, involvng UCC, UCIL employees, and Warren Anderson, UCC CEO at the time of the disaster.[9][10] In June 2010, seven ex-employees, including the former UCIL chairman, were convicted in Bhopal of causing death by negligence and sentenced to two years imprisonment and a fine of about $2,000 each, the maximum punishment allowed by law. An eighth former employee was also convicted but died before judgment was passed
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