On the 36 anniversary of the horrific and tragic incident of Bhopal gas leak, the Madhya Pradesh government has revealed that 102 survivors have succumbed to the deadly coronavirus.
On the contrary, according to a PTI report, some NGOs have even claimed that around 254 surviors of the Bhopal Gas Tragedy have died since the pandemic's outbreak.
Bhopal gas leak disaster is termed as the world's worst industrial disaster killing over 15,000 people after methyl isocyanate leaked on the intervening night of December 2-3, 1984 from the pesticide plant of Union Carbide India Limited (UCIL) in the city. More than five lakh people were affected due to the toxic leak.
The PTI report quoted Rachna Dhingra of NGO Bhopal Group for Information and Action (BGIA) who claimed, "As per the state's health bulletin, 518 people have died due to COVID-19 in Bhopal district so far. We visited the houses of 450 of these deceased to find out whether they were gas victims or not. Out of these 450 people, 254 were found to be the Bhopal gas tragedy survivors."
"These 254 victims possessed smart cards that were issued by the Bhopal Memorial Hospital and Research Center (BMHRC), a dedicated facility for the treatment of gas victims. They also had the photocopy of the Bhopal gas tragedy compensation order with them," she said.
"We have collected the copies of the smart cards and the compensation order by personally visiting the houses of these victims. We have even submitted these documents to chief medical officer of gas relief, Ravi Varma," Dhingra added.
In the report she was quoted alleging the government failing to have full record of those Bhopal gas tragedy survivors, who died of COVID-19 infection.
"The death rate of gas victims due to coronavirus was 6.5 per cent, which is more than the other infected persons", she said.
