Holistic Wellness Pristine You

=> That fateful midnight between 2nd & 3rd December 1984......

• An Instrumentation & Electronics Engineer by background, I was working with BHEL/Bhopal Unit during that time.

• Participated in the events that followed......

• We used to stay in Piplani, a BHEL Colony, approx 8/9 kms away from old Bhopal, the Site of the ghastly tragedy.

• The wind direction during winters was usually from the Union Carbide side to Piplani....learnt later on, that somehow the wind direction had changed that day.

• MIC is a very toxic volatile liquid used to manufacture Insecticides, etc.....also draws a reference from Sarin liquid/gas(German history since before WWII).

• Any intermingling of MIC with water can cause severe exothermic reaction to produce a very lethal gas....heavier than air.

• The Union Carbide Factory was situated in very densely populated old Bhopal & pretty close to the Bhopal Railway Station/Junction.

• There were 7 fail-safe measures/interlocks for the safe storage of the MIC, of which it was mandatory that at least 4 nos. needed to be operational for the Plant to function.
=> All the 7 measures were out-of-order !!

• A callous cleaning operation by non-technical personnel caused water to seep into the storage tank to trigger off the exothermic reaction & release of the deadly gas.

• Being heavier than air, the gas descended downwards and almost rolled along the ground, could not dissipate into the sky, egged on by the chilly winter winds.....creating havoc for the mostly poorer section of the Society living around that locality.

• The Gas would fatally harm the eyes, would cut out the oxygen supply from the lungs...the affected would froth at the nostrils & die.

• Even animals like cows, horses, dogs died in hundreds.

• The Deputy Station Superintendent of Bhopal Railway Station sensed something was not in order, and beyond his duty requirements, helped to stop (from reaching Bhopal) TWO speeding passenger-packed express trains merging towards Bhopal from the North & the South sides.
=> He collapsed at the Station itself & was left for "dead", but miraculously recovered subsequently.
=> No one has acknowledged this Braveheart Hero who so unselfishly put his life on the line to save thousands.

• Mass cremation was done after the air cleared on 3rd/4th morning....being there actively, the death figures were much...much...much above(many times) the officially declared figures.
=> Compensation was given but, strangely, many got deprived
=> Genetic maladies developed in many of the next generations of the survivors of this Gas Tragedy........

=> THE WORLD GOES ON.....