One of the most environmentally friendly and greenest cities in India is Bhopal. Considering its past, this is an incredible achievement. On the second and third of December 1984, a chemical leak resulted in the gas methyl isocyanate being released into the air. This toxic cloud entered several of the small towns that surrounded the plant. If they had used Chemical Spill Kits, like those from https://hydepark-environmental.com/spill-response/spill-kits/chemical they may have been able to stop the problem. However, a lack of safety protocols meant that nothing was done to try and stop the effects of the chemical spill from being felt.

The scale of those thought to be affected has varied through the years. Compensation was paid in 2008 via the local authority, but it is hard to accept the length of time it has taken for this to come through. Two thousand two hundred fifty-nine people are thought to have directly died at the time, with over 300,000 suffering life-changing impairment. The area was an impoverished part of India, with people living in close and cramped conditions. Local health care was soon overwhelmed.

The owner of the plant was a US-based international company called Union Carbide, but the site was run and partly owned by the Indian government as well. After many years of negotiations, Union Carbide paid out $470 million dollars in compensation in 1987 and considered the matter closed. However, pressure groups and the Indian government attempted further cases to prosecute Warren Anderson, the company’s CEO at the time.