India is developing at a brisk pace & today we are being conferred as an energy efficient nation. Having said that I strongly believe that with great power comes greater vulnerability. Testimony to the foresaid, India along with Russia, Italy, London & Spain have the distinction of being called a country to have incurred self-inflicted disasters. While some of the accidents occurred, some were incurred. While countless people died, their coming generations suffered terribly.
In last few weeks I have come across some appalling articles, which got featured in newspapers & other social media platforms. The articles were specially dedicated to the problems of common mass & the way ignorant government has been ducking it as always.
I would start with one of the worst disasters of India, which took place in the city of Bhopal. An adversity from which the city is still recuperating & people living there are yet to overcome the demons of their past. Yes, I am talking about the leakage of MIC form Union Carbide factory, a fertilizer manufacturing facility on the night of Dec 3,1984. MIC, which is believed to be one of the most deadly chemicals that ever existed, escaped into the atmosphere on the fateful night. The layer of gas shrouded one quarter of the city & those who came in its contact died one of the most brutal deaths that any human would ever imagine of. Those living in the nearby areas were reduced to corpse within a few hours. People succumbed to vital organ failure & serious respiratory complications. Such was its intensity that even today a newborn comes into the world with physical deformity. Read more about the Bhopal Gas Tragedy here.
The city of Bhopal has come a long way since then, the only thing that hasn’t changed is the place and the ill effect that it casts over the citizens residing there. A recent survey conducted in Bhopal doesn’t augur well for the city. Little do they know that the remains of harmful mercury particles which settled down on the ground & further got soaked by the underground water has now contaminated a major portion of water that is supplied in the city. The unaware people have consumed the same water & have infected their body mechanism in the long run. If that is anything less, the obtuse government has turned a blind eye towards them, thus leading them to a life-threatening situation. The newborns in the adjoining areas inherit congenital disorders and infections. Few NGOs have tried to voice their suppressed resistance by exposing the genuine issue & bringing it to the notice of those accountable for their wellbeing but a concrete solution still looks bleak.
The other story is about UCIL (Uranium Corporation Of India Limited). UCIL is located in Jadugoda district of mineral rich Jharkhand which houses major chunk of mineral resources found in India. We know that uranium is a mineral of utmost utility when it comes to generation of nuclear energy & production of power. In the pursuit of development the poor laborers working day & night in those dark trenches have been continuously ignored. Uranium being radioactive substance dissipates the harmful particle into the respiratory system of those who come in its contact, thus reducing their lifespan of the recipient signally & also affect their coming generations. People die because of lung cancer & other forms of skin disorders. Their children have been nursing dreadful diseases like cerebral palsy, deformity, mental illness & limb disorder, most of which are congenital disorders. But I guess the MDs of these conglomerate hardly bother about their safety.
The last phrase of the story is about KMML (Kerala metals and minerals limited); here the industrial effluents have contaminated the area in the 500 meters reach from its nexus. An initiative taken by a news channel unveiled the reality of the place. While some of the activists from the local areas have been waging their lone crusade but it took a special report from them to make the government acknowledge the reality. The contaminated water has spread to the tube-wells where the pH level was measured too acidic to drink. The govt had confirmed that an area of 150 meter was affected & would be taken over anytime but the reality check revealed that 500 meters of the area was obsoleted & remained instrumental in spreading deadly health hazards. Skin disorders like cracked legs; sore skin & burnt skin had been discovered among the inhabitants. Their woes were multiplied by their drying paddy fields. The government finally put a full stop to their miseries by confirming that 500 acres of the area in the vicinity of KMML will be taken over by the state run enterprise & people will be relocated to a safer place.
These major problems gives us an insight to the reality & there are many such issues across the length & width of our vast land which even fail to tickle the government’s ears. But the million dollar question that arise here is, ‘When are we going to value human lives above other material benefits?’
No comments:
Post a Comment