New Delhi, Oct 16: Fulfilling the long pending demands of the survivors of the Bhopal Gas Tragedy, the government has decided to build a memorial in Bhopal with an investment of Rs 180 crores. The Bhopal disaster, also referred to as the Bhopal gas tragedy is considered the world’s worst industrial disaster. The tragedy occurred on the night of 2–3 December 1984 at the Union Carbide India Limited (UCIL) pesticide plant in Bhopal, Madhya Pradesh.

In the deadly incident, over 500,000 people were exposed to methyl isocyanate (MIC) gas and other chemicals. The toxic substance made its way into and around the shanty towns located near the plant. The initial investigation was conducted entirely by the Council of Scientific and Industrial Research (CSIR) and the Central Bureau of Investigation.

In 2005,  20 years after the tragedy, the State Government of Madhya Pradesh came up with a national design competition for a memorial. However, architecture commissions, especially for important memorials like this focus on design and encourage fresh ideas but the Bhopal Memorial Competition, went out from the norm.

It was reported by Architexturez.net that the winning entry by SpaceMatters, selected by a jury of eminent Indian architects, exploited the possibilities and realized that the ‘dark side of the event’ had to be acknowledged in order to ‘move towards recovery’. The report also mentioned that rather than having a new memorial, the entry was unique in identifying the existing factory structures as a powerful icon of the tragedy which was a painful yet integral part of the cultural heritage of Bhopal.

As per reports, the official immediate death toll was 2,259 while the government of Madhya Pradesh confirmed a total of 3,787 deaths related to the gas release. A government affidavit in 2006 stated that the leak caused 558,125 injuries, including 38,478 temporary partial injuries and approximately 3,900 severely and permanently disabling injuries whereas others estimate that 8,000 died within two weeks, and another 8,000 or more have since died from gas-related diseases. Union Carbide Corporation (UCC) contends water entered the tank through an act of sabotage.

Immediately after the deadly incident, the plant was closed to outsiders (including UCC) by the Indian government, which subsequently failed to make data public, contributing to the confusion. The UCC chairman and CEO Warren Anderson, together with a technical team, immediately traveled to India. Upon arrival Anderson was placed under house arrest and urged by the Indian government to leave the country within 24 hours. Union Carbide organized a team of international medical experts, as well as supplies and equipment, to work with the local Bhopal medical community, and the UCC technical team began assessing the cause of the gas leak.