People's Voice from Bhopal

Rachna Dhingra from Bhopal, invigorated a 50 strong audience in a classroom of MIT on a snowy Monday night. The talk, titled “We all live in Bhopal”, on 22nd Jan was sponsored by Association for India’s Development, Amnesty and Boston Coalition for Justice in Bhopal. Rachna is an organizer for the International Campaign for Justice in Bhopal and an AID Jeevansaathi. Above all, she lives and works with survivors of the gas disaster which killed over 20,000 people and continues to take a toll of 30 lives a month, even after 22 years. In Feb-March of 2006, Rachna along with many survivors, undertook an arduous walk of 800 Km from Bhopal to Delhi to convey the 6 demands of the survivors groups to the Prime Minister, 4 of which were met.

Rachna’s talk started off by explaining how the worst industrial disaster, on the intervening night of  2nd and 3rd Dec. 1984, was in the making for many years. Rather than an unfortunate accident, it was a result of deliberate neglect, disregard for the lives of poor and putting profit above all. She touched upon the haphazard long term medical response of the Govt. of India and the inadequate, late and mismanaged compensation disbursal. People had fallen in debt traps by the time the first compensation arrived. Rachna highlighted the ongoing disaster of the ground water contamination, being caused by the chemicals lying in the abandoned factory site and the sickness it was causing amongst the communities living in the vicinity. These discussion elicited many queries from the audience and it organically turned into an interactive session of questions, answers and passionate perspectives.

Protests, marches, petitions and research have sustained the demand for justice by survivors groups for 22 years, of which Rachna is an integral part. Through her presentation and interactions, Rachna gave glimpses of the perspectives of the survivors – of their pain and sufferings; of their unwavering quest for justice; of their wisdom and resilience. “People have to become a voice not victims”, said Rachna. And that applies to all of us, not just survivors in Bhopal.

 

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