The Bhopal Gas Tragedy
Arriving in Bhopal
In 1984 I travelled from Delhi to Bhopal to
visit certain customers.(BHEL,
Omega, HEG and general visits to other customers in the area.) I boarded the Grand
Trunk Express which left New Delhi railway station at 7.15 in the evening and was
scheduled to arrive in Bhopal next morning at 5.15.
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| GRAND TRUNK EXPRESS |
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| VIDISHA STATION: ONE STOP TO THE TRAGEDY! |
The
train was halted at a station called Vidusha about 50 km from Bhopal. About
7'oclock I asked the conductor why the train is halted and he told me there is some gas leak near Bhopal
railway station, therefore the train had to be stopped. After about an hour or
so we reached Bhopal station. When I got down at the station I was shocked to
see a number of bodies lying on the platform with foam from their mouths. I did
not realize what exactly was going on...Imagine the horror of picking my way
over the bodies across the platform to go out! I picked up an auto to go to the
hotel room.
The
Bhopal Gas Tragedy was one of the worst
man-made Disasters of the 20th Century. See https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Bhopal_disaster
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| BODIES NEAR THE STATION |
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| THE UNION CARBIDE PLANT – AFTER THE TRAGEDY |
I asked the auto driver what the problem is,
why so many people are dead on the platform. He said the previous night there
was a leakage of gas from Union Carbide factory which is located not very far
from the station. However, he advised me that this is a very serious issue; a
lot of people have been affected and their eye sight have been affected, so why
do you want to stay here, get into the train and leave immediately. By the time
I reached the railway station again, the train had already left, so I took another
auto and went to the hotel where I normally stayed in Bhopal.
The lobby was completely deserted. Then
someone came in and asked me what I wanted. I said I wanted to stay now. He
said he didn’t want anybody to stay in the hotel because the previous night
many had died and no one knew what was really happening. He relented when I
said I have no other choice, as I have nowhere to stay. He accommodated me in a
room and narrated why people lost their lives staying in the room...at midnight
there was a lot of noise and the inmates of the hotel came out to see what is
going on...they inhaled the gas and died including the people working in the
reception area.
The Next Couple of Days
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| BHEL – BHOPAL PLANT |
I decided to go ahead with my programme of
visiting Bharath Heavy Electricals which was located quite far away from the
city and was not affected by the gas tragedy...normal work was going on so I finished
all my work and went to another customer called Omega. When I reached that
place again there was a rumour that the gas had again started leaking;
Pandemonium broke out people started running helter-skelter, but the Managing Director
of Omega calmed everyone down - he
organised a vehicle and took all of us to a farm house which was located quite
far from the factory. He invited me to stay with them, provided lunch, evening
snacks and dropped me back late in the night at the hotel. Interestingly
Omega have grown into a very large company and still buy our Hand Operated and
HI chucks!
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| OMEGA RENK BEARINGS PVT. LTD. – BHOPAL |
The situation in the city was not really
conducive for work and I felt I had better return home. My family and boss
where extremely concerned and worried for my safety. They could read the news,
but Bhopal was a hot bed of rumours and disinformation, so I did not get a grasp
on what was really going on.
Remember those were the days of trunk calls
where one had to book a call through the telephone exchange and wait for hours,
and sometimes days for the calls to be out through! And not everyone even had a
phone!! SO they could not contact me easily.
So I stayed for 2 more days because there was
no other choice, tickets were not immediately available and booking counters
were closed, and returned to Chennai as soon as I got a ticket.
The Way We Were:
Looking back on it, I realize that I did not
panic at all, and just went about my work. I did not even realize that I was in
danger. While my boss and family were desperately trying to contact me, I went
about my work and did not worry about the fact that in disaster struck Bhopal,
I was unable to contact headquarters to report the day’s work. We were trained
to be that way in GMT: No panic, do what has to be done next : THE SHOW MUST GO
ON! I realize now that I too could have become dangerously ill, but then that’s
the way we were in those days!
CHECK
OUT THE WEBSITE OF THE SURVIVORS OF THE TRAGEDY
