Our time starts now

It is inevitable, 20 years years later, to pause a bit, reflect upon and relive that night of hell that went down in history as the world8217;s worst industrial disaster, one that made a city synonymous with toxicity. India is still grappling with the consequences of Bhopal, not just in terms of its deadly chemical legacy still embedded in the environs of the abandoned shell that was once the Union Carbide factory, but in terms of delivering justice and medical support to the thousands who suffered, and continue to suffer, as a result of the gas leak.

The magnitude of suffering alerted us, possibly for the first time in our history, to the dangers of chemical pollution 8212; yet, as a commentator in these columns has pointed out, if another Bhopal were to happen today, we may not respond any differently in spite of the considerable information we have gleaned since then. Every now and then, there is an intimation of disaster. In 2004 alone, there was an explosion in the Shar complex of Sriharikota killing 36 people, a serious toxic gas leak in a transport company godown in New Delhi, a fire at an endosulfan plant in Eloor, Kerala, a leak in a chlorine plant near Mettur dam in Tamil Nadu, an explosion in a scrap factory in Shahibabad, Uttar Pradesh, that killed 10. The list goes on. Whole regions are ticking time bombs, whether it is the 8220;golden corridor8221; of Gujarat8217;s Valsad-Vapi region, the chemical industrial estates of Cuddalore, regarded as the 8220;smelliest place in Tamil Nadu8221;, the asbestos wastes left in the abandoned mines of Jharkhand8217;s Roro Hills, or indeed the toxic neighbourhoods in every one of our cities.

Given this reality, it would indeed be unfortunate that the Bhopal tragedy becomes just another slogan on a T-shirt or just another occasion to hang a commemoration on. We need a matrix of environmental governance in place and the 20th anniversary of Bhopal is a good moment to conceive it. It must internalise environmental considerations in developmental activity; ensure a responsive legal machinery; get industry to seek cleaner, well tested technologies and adopt best practices; and reinforce networks that expedite the efficient dissemination of information right down to the last person. Our time starts now.