Bhopal Gas Tragedy was the worst ever industrial disaster. 41 tonnes of deadly methyl isocyanate gas and its reaction products were released on the midnight of December 2, 1984 from the Union Carbide plant in Bhopal, India. It resulted in the immediate death of over 8,000 people and caused untold suffering on hundreds of thousand. Since then, over 12,000 have died from the complications caused by inhaling the gas that night. Over 1,20,000 continue to still suffer. The hazardous chemicals buried at the company site when the plants were operating and those left behind after the disaster in 1984, have polluted the soil and underground water severely affecting the health of a very large number of people who have no other source of water. Thus, the Bhopal Gas Tragedy has turned out to be the world’s worst pollution disaster as well.

This conference has been organized by the Department of Chemical Engineering, Indian Institute of Technology, Kanpur on the 20th anniversary of the disaster so that the world does not forget about it and its memories do not fade away. The conference has three main aims:

To analyze the accident as it unfolded on the dreadful night
To discuss the progress made in chemical industry safety since the accident by means of laws, education, research, etc.
To attempt to chart future direction towards achieving the aim of zero accident

The conference has generated a tremendous interest world-wide. Participation is from 26 countries apart from India. Over 50% of the 140 delegates have come from abroad. The countries represented are: Belgium, Brazil, Canada, Colombia, Finland, France, Germany, Holland, Hong Kong, India, Indonesia, Iran, Israel, Italy, Japan, Kuwait, Norway, Poland, Qatar, Saudi Arabia, Singapore, South Africa, Sweden, Switzerland, Taiwan, U.K., USA. There are numerous aspects of the tragedy, and not just the technological ones. This is proved by the vast back ground of the participants: Academicians, accident investigators, consultants, doctors, former mayor, Government executives, industry experts, insurance executives, journalists, lawyers, police, researchers, safety law enforcement, etc.

Over the years, mainly as a result of the Bhopal disaster, there has been a great interest in process safety. Only in this year alone there have been at least 12 international conferences devoted only to this topic in Berlin, Dresden, Kanpur, Manchester, Miami, New Orleans, Nurnberg, Paris, Prague (2 conferences), Quebec City and Shanghai.

On the 20th anniversary of the disaster, articles and news stories have appeared in all the major newspapers in India and other countries. There has been a vast coverage by the news services as well as the technical press. New documentaries have been released by BBC, Canadian Broadcasting Corporation and National Geographic.

The conference was inaugurated by Dr. Sanjay G. Dhande, Director, I.I.T., Kanpur. He encouraged the participants to work harder in making the chemical industry very safe and promised to provide all the support necessary towards that goal. The Chief Guest at the conference at IIT Kanpur was Shri D.S. Mathur, Director (Refineries), Hindustan Petroleum Corporation Ltd., the over 70,000 crore rupees (16 billion US dollars) company, one of the Navratna corporations. He told of the progress that HPCL has made in process safety and the recognition and awards it has bagged. Referring to the large chemical plants that dot the country and which scare people living nearby, he exhorted the participants to work towards a goal of making the plants such that, while continuing to produce the products on which our life and living so much depends, they are not seen, heard or produce any kind of smell. He said that HPCL would fully support these efforts. Earlier, Prof. Ashutosh Sharma, Head of Chemical Engineering Department, while welcoming the delegates, stated how the department was the first one in Asia to recognize the importance of process safety and offer a full one-semester elective course to students. Prof. J. P. Gupta, Conference Convenor, mentioned from the documents of the Union Carbide Corporation about their use of unproven technology and also the environment damage this was likely to cause, the neglect of safety due to economic pressures, the disregard of several forewarnings issued by an investigative journalist Mr. Rajkumar Keswani, the 4 sabotage theories put out by the company and others, comparison of immediate death and destruction by the September 11 attacks in New York and the Bhopal tragedy, comparison of the compensation paid in Bhopal where thousands died ($470 million) and the cost incurred by Exxon on Valdez (Alaska) sea pollution disaster, where none died ($4 billion and another $4.5 billion compensation ordered).

The conference had a Plenary session on the Bhopal gas Tragedy wherein the scene that time was recreated. Mr. T R Chauhan, ex-operator, MIC plant told of the unfolding of the accident, the reduction in manpower and training. His book ‘ Bhopal – The Inside Story’ is the only one out of over a dozen books, written by a technical person working at the company, is a must-read for anyone wanting to know about the disaster. This was distributed to the participants. Former Mayor Dr R. K. Bisarya and the then Bhopal Police Chief Shri Swaraj Puri (Currently Director General, Government of India, Narcotics Division), narrated the sequence of horrible events that night and how they valiantly fought to alleviate the sufferings of the victims. Mr. Puri was out all through the night with his limited force of people, to evacuate the victims and transport them to the hospitals. He did not know the gas that had been released so he breathed it too. He still continues to suffer the after effects. Ms. Ingrid Eckerman (Sweden), of the International Medical Commission on Bhopal analysed the causes and consequences of the Bhopal gas leak and continued to describe the epidemiological and clinical research. Her analysis was most incisive and deep. If followed though, it would help make the industry safer. Her new book was also put on display. Mr. Sathyu Sarangi of the Sambhavna Trust, Bhopal is known globally for his continued efforts made on behalf of the victims. He had reached Bhopal the day after the disaster, leaving his PhD studies in between, and has been in Bhopal since then working for the victims. His papers on the medical response and the state of health and care of the Union Carbide plant victims were based on deep studies carried out over the last 20 years. He also pointed out the way forward to a meaningful treatment. Dr. S. Muralidhar, Senior Advocate, Supreme Court of India, is currently fighting, and winning, the cases of the Bhopal gas victims. He discussed the current status of the cases and is hopeful of getting further relief for the victims.

This Plenary Session was followed by an exhibition of photographs of the Bhopal tragedy and aftermath by the renowned photographer Mr. Raghu Rai. The exhibition will be open to the public on December 2 and 3, from 10 AM to 12 noon and from 2.30 PM to 5.00 PM at the Pioneer Batch Centre, Visitors Hostel, IIT Kanpur

The post-lunch session had keynote lectures by renowned scientists from around the world. Prof. Sam Mannan (USA), Texas A&M University, talked of the vast impact that the Bhopal disaster has had on process safety worldwide and pointed directions for the future towards the aim of zero accident. Prof. Rolf Eckhoff (Norway) talked of dust explosion research status and future trends. While these are as common as the gas related explosions, most in the public have no idea about them. He is the foremost researcher in this area. Ms Carolyn Merritt (USA), talked on the ‘Organizational Safety culture Issues’, and telling what the space shuttle disaster can teach the chemical industry to make it safer. She is the Chairman of the US Chemical Safety and Hazard Investigation Board, Washington DC and was nominated by the US President Mr. Bush and confirmed by the US Senate. Her independent agency has carried out investigation of a lot of accidents. Dr Alain Dorison (France) spoke on the 2001 explosion in Toulouse where in a huge amount of ammonium nitrate had suddenly exploded, killing dozens in and around the large factory. This has resulted in new laws in France. Mr. C M Pietersen (Holland) talked on the current and future trends in industrial safety. His talk presented a bright future for the industry. He was amongst the first ones to be invited to India to discuss process safety after the Bhopal disaster. The renowned Supreme Court lawyer Mr. M C Mehta (India) presented his views on the effect of the Bhopal disaster on laws and jurisprudence in India. He has been a crusader in getting many laws created related to environment and safety.

This was followed by a panel discussion ‘Towards Zero Accident – Which Way?’ It was chaired by Prof. Sam Mannan (USA). The other members were Mr. Sathyu Sarangi (India), Mr. Karl Strassle (Switzerland), Prof. M. Tamura (Japan) and Dr Angela Summers (USA). The panelists gave their views on the topic and a spirited discussion followed from the floor. Based upon vast experience of the large number of participants, several noteworthy recommendations were made. If followed, these will make the process industry significantly safer and move it towards the goal of zero accident. These recommendations will be summarized and circulated amongst the governments, industry and academics. These along with the papers presented at the conference will be published in the renowned journal ‘Journal of Loss Prevention in the Process Industry’, published by Elsevier in the Netherlands.

The panel discussion was followed by a viewing of the latest video ‘Bhopal – The Search for Justice’, produced by White Pine Pictures and National Film Board of Canada under license by Canadian Broadcasting Corporation. It was released only last week in North America. It brought out vividly the sufferings and the current status of the over 1,00,000 victims in Bhopal. The video was very well appreciated. This, along with other videos produced by Grenada TV, National Geographic, and a feature film by Mahesh Mathai starring Nasiruddin Shah will be screened for public at the IIT Kanpur auditorium on December 2 and 3 from 2.30 to 5.00 PM.

A display of latest books on safety published by the Institution of Chemical Engineers (UK) and the Center for Chemical Process Safety (USA) was also put up. It will continue through the conference.

The conference has very interesting research papers on December 2 and 3, followed by a summing up session. The participants will be visiting the J K Temple during the conference

A group of 35 participants will travel to Bhopal on the night of December 3 to visit the Union Carbide plant to see for themselves the disaster it had caused. They will meet Dr Sathpathy who had carried out thousands of autopsies and will see the viscera of aborted fetuses and the genetic mutations caused by the gas. They will also meet some of the victims. Time permitting, they will visit the Buddha Stupa at Sanchi.

The conference has been financially supported by the Hindustan Petroleum Corporation Ltd., Oil & Natural Gas Commission, Bharat Petroleum Corporation Ltd. and Senes Ltd. It has been endorsed by a large number of professional organizations from India, USA, UK, Germany, Europe and Singapore.