41st Anniversary Of Bhopal Gas Tragedy: 41 Years Passed, But No End To Widows’ Woes; Children Suffering Breathlessness, low Vision, Difficulty In Walking

Bhopal(Madhya Pradesh): Eighty one-year-old Shankuntala cannot stop coughing. She often feels breathless and can only walk with someone’s help. She lives on Hoshangabad Road.

Of her three children, two daughters are married, and the son runs a tea stall. His feet are swollen and have turned black. And he too has problems in walking. Shankuntala’s husband had expired in 1990.

Even if she wants to, Shakuntala cannot forget that fateful night of December 3-4, 1984. She and her family were sleeping at their house near Old Vidhan Sabha. “Around midnight, we felt our eyes burning. There was commotion all around,” she said. They did not think much of it then but today, 41 years later, its ill-effects continue to trouble them.

And she is not alone. Droupadi Sahu was a 29-year-old mother of two children and lived with her husband at Chaoni near Bharat Talkies in December 1984. Her husband is dead. Sahu and both her children suffer from asthma and low vision. She gets Rs 600 a month as destitute pension. “How can I survive with Rs 600,” she asks.

Sixty-year-old Tarabai, another widow of gas tragedy, has asthma and cannot walk without aid. She lost husband 15 years ago to diseases caused by inhaling the Methyl Isocyanate (MIC) gas.

Sandhya (81) Saini’s husband succumbed to gas-related health issues 30 years ago. “I need someone’s help even to visit the toilet,” she says. Of her five children, three are gas tragedy victims.

Chironji Ahirwar, 70, lives in Panchvati Colony in Karond. Her husband passed away two years after the gas disaster and she brought up her four children by working as a daily wage labourer. Her eyesight has improved a bit after surgery but she becomes breathless even if she walks a few feet.

Jamnabai Shakya, 85, suffers from stomach bloating and has a perpetual headache. Even after surgery, there is no improvement in her eyesight. She lived in Mangalwara at the time of the gas disaster and now lives in Karond. All her six children are gas tragedy victims. “Nights scare me still.”

Bhuri Bai,70, lives in Bairagarh. Since being exposed to poisonous gas, she never got respite from a burning sensation in chest, throat and knee ache.