For years Union Carb-ide had been dumping chemicals and wastes around the factory sites and these have leaked into the soil and contaminated the drinking water. Even after 30 years of the world’s worst industrial tragedy in which Methyl Isocyanate (MIC) gas and other chemicals leaked from the Union Carbide plant in Bhopal, capital city of Madhya Pradesh, there is no end to people suffering. Even after over two decades, the third generation of gas victims are still born with deformities. The reason why such children are born to parents either exposed to or using water contaminated gas toxic concoction seeps deeper into the ground. For years Union Carbide had been dumping chemicals and wastes around the factory sites and these have leaked into the soil and contaminated the drinking water of thousands of people residing in nearby localities. The government recorded 5,295 deaths, but activists claim 25,000 people died in the aftermath and following years. A report published revealed poisons such as trichlorobenzene, dichloromethane, chloroform, lead and mercury in the breast milk of nursing women living near the factory. Many of the people who drank the water have become too sick to work, but they have received no help. Meanwhile, the contaminated land has never been cleaned up, and families too poor to move live on top of the contaminated soil. Mrs Rashida Bee of Bhopal Gas Peedit Mahila Stationery Karmchari Sangh said that every monsoon, this toxic concoction still lying in the abundant plants seeps deeper into the ground. “Few years ago, a test conducted by Indian Council of Medical Research (ICMR) in different colonies located near plant site, out of 20 samples taken of mother’s milk, mercury found in 19 samples. The rate of birth defects in the contaminated areas is ten times higher than in the rest of India. Cancers and other diseases are rife,” she stated. Activists working for the rehabilitation of gas victims are asking from where mercury comes to mother’s milk. “It’s only due to contamination of ground water from toxic wastes which also force our children to born with deformities,” they said and blamed the local civic agency, the Bhopal Municipal Corporation, for its failure to follow 2005 order of the Supreme Court to supply clean drinking water. “Chingari Trust, an NGO, which set up a rehabilitation centre for children born with deformities because of the gas leak, sees a growing number of children with deformities due to consumption of contaminated groundwater.” “From 500 children in 2012 the number has grown up to 720,” Mrs Bee, also the managing trustee of Chingari Trust, added. All these children enrolled with the Chingari trust are below of below 12 as the trust has kept a cap on upper age limit of 12 years. Even after thirty years, activists are still fighting for the removal of these wastes far away from the area. They said that post the tragic incident, the Union Carbide abandoned the factory without removing the waste. Also, there is confusion over the quantity of waste lying at factory sites. Rachna Dhingra of Bhopal Group for Information and Action said that in last one decade the government had announced that they will be engaging a German Company or other for disposal of 350 metric tons of Union Carbide toxic waste in Germany. “Actual quantity of toxic waste at the plant site is several thousand metric tons. The local people and us estimate the presence of 25,000 to 50,000 metric tons of uncontained toxic waste in soil and water,” added Ms Dhingra. Now after the German company denied and other foreign companies have withdrawn themselves from lifting the toxic waste, the government is roping in an Indian company. Satinath Sarangi of Bhopal Group for Information and Action said that now an Indian company is engaged to shift the toxic waste to Pithampur but not a single gram of waste has been removed. Victims are continuously fighting for adequate compensation. They said that in 1989, the Union Carbide and the union settled to award each survivor only $500 for life-long debilitating injuries. This means survivors have been given less than 5 cents per day —the cost of a cup of tea — to pay for decades of medical bills. Earlier this month, the Union government had agreed to the demands for additional compensation for the disaster. The minister of chemical & fertilisers had promised full commitment to having scientific data as the basis for assessment of injury caused by the disaster. They said that there is abundant evidence in medical research and hospital records to show that well over 90 per cent people suffered injuries that were neither minor nor temporary. Ms Dhingra said, “We are sure once the Curative Petition in the apex court is based on scientific figures, the additional compensation amount payable by Union Carbide and Dow Chemical would go up significantly. This could well mean a minimum of `5 lakhs of additional compensation from the corporations for each gas victim.” Victims alleged that government is downplaying the numbers. Balkrishna Namdeo of the Bhopal Gas Peedit Nirashrit Pensionbhogee Sangharsh Morcha said that the figures of death and extent of injury caused to the victims were grossly downplayed. “The government’s apex research agency, the Indian Council of Medical Research had reported that over 12,000 people died due to the disaster till 1993. But when it came to seeking compensation from the American corporations, the government said that the number of dead was only 5,295,” said Nawab Khan, president of the Bhopal Gas Peedit Mahila Purush Sangharsh Morcha. After former head of American multinational Warren Anderson died in October, survivors blamed the alleged that due to the protection offered by the US government and due to the deliberate negligence of the Indian government in bringing him to justice, the world’s worst corporate criminal died unshackled. Mr Namdeo blamed successive governments at the Centre for the negligence towards extraditing Anderson from USA. “The Indian government took 11 years to send its first request for extradition of Anderson and then did nothing when the government of USA rejected that request on specious grounds. A second request still remains pending with the US state and justice departments and there has been no attempt by the Indian government to expedite matters in the last three years.” he added. Activists claimed that there is enough evidence to establish that Anderson was directly involved in decision making and oversight concerning design, operation and maintenance of the Bhopal factory and was fully aware of the hazards the factory posed on the lives and health of the residents of the city. “He is also guilty of approving the faulty waste management system used in the Bhopal factory that is responsible for the ongoing contamination of soil and groundwater. Hopefully, Anderson’s life in hiding and his ignominious death would be a lesson for all corporate criminals,” said Mr Sarangi. The victims will continue to fight till all the accused responsible booked for their act. “Mr Anderson was become the face of Bhopal tragedy and all the focus shifted to him as individual. Union government half heartedly focused on his extradition and left the company and its other official free. Now government seeks extradition of John Macdonald, Union Carbide’s secretary and others,” added Mr Sarangi.