Film on 1984 Bhopal tragedy offers enough evidence for investigation, says filmmaker
By ANITuesday, July 6, 2010
NEW DELHI - Filmmaker Tapan Bose has said that ‘Bhopal: Beyond Genocide’, a documentary made by him in 1986 on the 1984 Bhopal Gas Tragedy can provide enough evidence to the officials to conduct a probe into the incident.
The authorities had banned the documentary that encapsulated the various incidents, which followed the tragedy, and the screening of the documentary was possible only after Bose moved the court.
The film won the Golden Lotus Award for the Best Non-Fiction Film in 1988.
Bose said that investigators would get enough leads into the incident, as the film has inputs from employees of Union Carbide.
“There is enough material in the film that can be certainly used today as evidence. I don’t know of any other film so thoroughly researched in a documentary. It is very good, not because I made it, but I was able to do it with two of my colleagues, said Bose.
Salim Shaikh and Suhasini Mulay helped me in making the film, besides the enormous help of the people, which included people from Union Carbide. I must say they gave me lot of information, he added after a special screening of the flick in the national capital.
The Group of Ministers (GoM), constituted to examine all aspects of the 1984 Bhopal gas disaster, had submitted the report the Prime Minister Manmohan Singh on June 21.
The GoM had dealt with all the issues - compensation, legal issues, including the issue of the extradition of Warren Anderson, the legal options available to the Government of India, and most importantly, remediation matters, and health related matters.
Union Carbide settled its liabilities to the Indian government in 1989 by paying 470 million dollars before being bought by another US company, Dow Chemical.
In the early hours of Dec. 3, 1984, around 40 metric tonnes of toxic methyl isocyanate (MIC) gas leaked into the atmosphere and was carried by the wind to the surrounding slums.
A criminal case is pending against former Union Carbide chief Warren Anderson and an arrest warrant has been issued against him with regard to the tragedy. (ANI)
