Victims of Bhopal tragedy still await compensation

"Clouds of Injustice" is the name of the report released Monday by Amnesty International detailing how thousands of victims of the world's worst industrial accident that occurred 20 years ago in Bhopal, India, are still waiting to be compensated and to be rehabilitated.
"Clouds of Shame" would be a more appropriate title -- given the international community's disregard for suffering of so many.
The Indian government deserves condemnation for not making available to the victims the entire $470 million it received from Union Carbide in an out-of-court settlement in 1989. Only $140 million has been paid out.
And the court systems in India and the United States should be ashamed for not having the gumption to bring Union Carbide executives to justice.
The company owned the pesticide plant in Bhopal that spewed 40 tons of poisonous gas when a storage tank burst five minutes past midnight on Dec. 3, 1984. The gas enveloped the city; thousands of residents were overcome.
Here's how the Associated Press story marking the 20th anniversary of the Bhopal tragedy published last Sunday in The Vindicator described what occurred: "Within minutes, tens of thousands were clawing at their throats and putting palms to their frothing mouths. Some choked on their own vomit. Others were trampled by cows or run over by trucks as they fled."
Union Carbide, based in Danbury, Conn., sold the plant in 2001 to Dow Chemical Co. of Midland, Mich.
UC claimed that 3,800 people were killed. Indian government officials put the number between 10,000 and 12,000. Bhopal activists contend that 20,000 people have died over the years due to gas-related illnesses, such as lung cancer, kidney failure and liver failure. The Indian government, which reached the out-of-court settlement with the company without consulting with the victims, estimates that 600,000 have become ill or had babies born with congenital deficits over the past two decades.
Mystery
The bitter fact is that the number of dead and injured remains a mystery today. Such is the fate of people living in underdeveloped and undeveloped countries.
"In 1994 all government research on the medical effects of the Bhopal disaster were discontinued without explanation," Amnesty International's report states. "The full results of the research carried out have yet to be published."
If that doesn't reflect poorly on the world community, consider this: The pea-green control room at the deserted Union Carbide plant, now managed by the state government, has yet to be mothballed. Sacks filled with chemicals can be found in the warehouse.
Greenpeace estimates it would cost at least $30 million to clean up the plant and the groundwater and soil it claims are laced with carcinogens. The Indian government has shown little interest in conducting the clean-up, thus putting the lives of thousands of residents at risk.
Why the out-of-sight, out-of-mind attitude on the part of Indian officials? Because they don't want to dissuade foreign investors from coming in by harping about the sins of Union Carbide.
What price a human life? Obviously not much in India.