The Madhya Pradesh government department is claimed to be serving as a steady source of income for contractors and officials rather than providing relief to victims and their families
BHOPAL — The Madhya Pradesh Government’s Department of Bhopal Gas Tragedy Relief & Rehabilitation is alleged to have misappropriated a sum of Rs 272.75 crore earmarked for the survivors of the 1984 Union Carbide gas tragedy in Bhopal. The amount appears to have been looted, wasted or left unspent, reveal the four organisations working among the survivors. The information was obtained under the Right to Information Act (RTI).
It appears that the Department of Bhopal Gas Tragedy Relief & Rehabilitation has been functioning for years as a “Milch Cow,” serving as a steady source of income for contractors and officials rather than providing medical relief or rehabilitation to gas victims and their families.
During the last 41 years, the government’s apathy towards those victims of the poisonous gas leak has been at its peak. In 2010, the Group of Ministers on Bhopal, Government of India, sanctioned Rs 272.75 crore for the medical, social, economic and environmental rehabilitation of survivors, transferring the funds to the state government on a 75:25 basis. Today, more than Rs 139 crore remains unspent, while much of what is recorded as expenditure has resulted in little to no benefits for those affected.
Although Rs 33 crore was sanctioned to improve healthcare for gas victims and their children, major installations remain non-functional. Modular operation theatres constructed in 2021 in three gas relief hospitals have not conducted a single major surgery because of lack of surgeons and anaesthesiologists. Essential diagnostic equipment, including sonography and TMT machines, lies idle for want of trained operators. Central oxygen lines were installed in hospitals without ICUs, and canteens built to serve patients were shut down as no staff was hired to run these canteens.
90% of Specialist Posts Vacant
According to the latest report of the Supreme Court-appointed Monitoring Committee, 90 percent of specialist posts and more than half of all doctor posts remain vacant. “Hiring qualified specialists does not bring in commission money, which is why these crucial posts remain unfilled,” said Rashida Bee of the Bhopal Gas Peedit Mahila Stationery Karmchari Sangh.
Social rehabilitation funds were similarly squandered. In 2012, seven Yoga Centres were built at a cost of Rs 3.63 crore to provide therapeutic care to survivors suffering from respiratory, hormonal and musculoskeletal disorders caused by toxic exposure. Not a single yoga therapist was ever appointed and no programme has ever been conducted at these centres, many of which now function as wedding halls.
Likewise, Rs 5 crores were spent on Sulabh toilets and dustbins—activities irrelevant to the needs of survivors—while more than 500 widows of the disaster have been denied pensions for the last four years. “Money meant to support families devastated by the disaster has been plundered through meaningless construction,” said Balkrishan Namdev of the Bhopal Gas Peedit Nirashrit Pension Bhogi Sangharsh Morcha.
Administrative Failure
Perhaps the starkest example of administrative failure is the state of “Vidhwa Colony”, built to house women widowed and children orphaned in the disaster. In 2014, Rs 5 crore was sanctioned to construct a functional sewage system. A decade later, not a single drain works. During the monsoon, sewage floods into the homes of widows, as documented in photographs shared by the residents. “Even after spending Rs 5 crores, the community still has no functional sewage system. This is the level of greed we are up against,” said Nasreen Bi of the Bhopal Gas Peedit Mahila Purush Sangharsh Morcha.
Economic rehabilitation funds reveal an equally disturbing pattern. Between 2011 and 2013, Rs 18.13 crore was paid to 22 training agencies to run 133 vocational courses for survivors and their families. RTI documents and interviews with 380 people claimed as trainees expose widespread fraud: nearly a quarter of the beneficiary names were fake, more than half of the job-offer letters were forged and only six percent of trainees received their stipends. The corruption was so extensive that approximately 94 percent of payments made to the agencies were fraudulent. The Department planned to spend the entire 100 crore rupees on these meaningless training but were stopped due to revelation of corruption.
Contractors Benefited
“The Department of Gas Relief has systematically enriched contractors and officials while abandoning the constitutional and court-mandated rehabilitation of Bhopal survivors,” said Rachna Dhingra of the Bhopal Group for Information & Action, urging the Chief Minister to convene a meeting of the State Advisory Committee–Gas Rahat and initiate an immediate investigation into corruption and mis-utilisation of funds. She added that a transparent process must be established to ensure that the remaining unspent funds are used for meaningful rehabilitation in consultation with all stakeholders.
In the intervening December 2-3 night in 1984, poisonous Methyl Iso-cyanate gas got leaked from the Union Carbide pesticide manufacturing plant claiming the lives of 3,000 people almost instantly. Over the years, more than 25,000 people have succumbed to the effects of the gas, and the tragic legacy continues unabated. Nearly half a million people continue to suffer from the side effects of the toxic exposure, with several thousand permanently disabled.
