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The documentary tells the story of the lives of five people who
lived and worked in Bhopal. Mehboob's husband was employed by Union
Carbide as a maintenance worker. He survived that night, but suffered
lung and chest infections for the next 15 years of his life before
eventually dying of TB.
She also lost two sons to the tragedy and is today deeply in debt
to money lenders. Kumkum was a doctor who resigned from the company
after her concerns about safety were ignored.
Swaraj is a local police Superintendent who worked to restore calm
on the night. Heavily exposed to the gas he is now a sick man, angry
that justice as he sees it has not been done. Shahid was left orphaned
by the tragedy and himself suffers breathlessness and dizziness.
Today he helps victims of the gas seek medical help.
Suman was a young technician at the factory whose life was saved
due to an oxygen mask. He could not prevent the tragedy but was
there to witness it first hand, a burden he carries with him to
this day.
The documentary goes on to note that today, the suffering in Bhopal
shows little sign of improvement. The health effects were ruinous,
the death toll continues to grow and thousands remain disabled by
chronic symptoms. The compensation paid by Union Carbide is patchily
distributed and no-one ever faced criminal charges for the neglect
that lead to the disaster. The terrible after effects of that one
night in Bhopal continue to this day.
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On
that fateful night a routine maintenance operation by the American
industrial giant Union Carbide turned into a disaster. The company
stored huge quantities of toxic chemicals in the city under what
proved to be an extremely inadequate safety regime. Ultimately,
a botched incident lead to poisonuous gas escaping from the factory
and drifting into the sleeping city, with catastrophic results.