Remembering The Bhopal Gas Tragedy : The National Disaster Which Established Sambhavna Trust

Eventualities Of The Bhopal Gas Tragedy

September 2 was the twenty-second anniversary of the establishment of the Sambhavna Trust Clinic in Bhopal. The trust was established to provide direct intervention in the lives of the affected people, which had already been promised to them several times over by the Central and the State government but never followed up on. The establishment of the Trust Clinic was led by the late eminent scientist Dr P. M. Bhargava.

Even today, when the survivors wait for the deliverance of justice, the Disaster largely remains a forgotten in the nationalist history. Furthermore, the whole story of the extent of the Double Poisoning of the people of Bhopal is known to a select few. The Bhopal Gas Tragedy is also called the Double Poisoning, for the MIC incident was just the starting. The committee which investigated into the crimes of the Union Carbide – before being dissolved unceremoniously- found that the factory had buried Poisonous Chemicals deep under the surface of the Earth, close to the groundwater level to go off with the cost of proper disposal, which resulted in the groundwater of the city of Bhopal being contaminated.

The Sambhavna Trust Clinic – The Remedial Measures…

The Sambhavna Trust Clinic was set up in Bhopal when the government, Central or the State, failed to take definitive action. It has for the last twenty- two years provided the affected people with treatment – using modern medicinal practices as well as traditional methods of Ayurveda, Yoga and Panchakarma specifically – for free. The Clinic exists smack in the middle of Quazi Camp, a Muslim- dominated neighbourhood and is its primary beneficiaries.

A surprising fact about the Trust Clinic is that it does not accept Corporate or Government funding and is run on the individual donations of some twenty- five thousand odd people from all over the United Kingdom, who respond to the Bhopal Medical Appeal each year. Another important source of funding for the clinic is through the revenue from the sale of the book, “Five past Midnight in Bhopal” by authors Dominique Lapierre and Javier Moro.

It is time now that the banal discussions that play a large part in our everyday life be put away and the necessary issues are debated upon.