Influential Figures

Reliving Bhopal Gas Tragedy: The Tireless Journey of Satinath Sarangi

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May 16, 2023

Does anyone remember the “Bhopal Gas Tragedy” chapter taught to us in school and was part of our regular curriculum? If yes, you might be thinking, what made me pick up such a topic which happened very long ago and even forgotten from the memories of Indians? Fickle, extremely so, we Indians are when any huge incident sees an uprise, mostly momentarily and as soon it subsides, daily life commences.

To brush off the rust off your memories, the Bhopal Gas Tragedy was one of the gas leak incidents in a place called Bhopal in India, which is also considered one of the worst industrial disasters on the planet. It was on the fateful night of 2nd to 3rd of December, the year 1984, when a leak took place in the Union Carbide India Limited, abbreviated as the UCIL pesticide plant leaked and emitted highly toxic methyl isocyanate (MIC) gas along with other chemicals and led to the death of innumerous people all over, the official toll being over two thousand. While the actual number of death tolls still is questionable, the number of injured people was over fifty-five thousand, containing over four thousand permanently or severely injured and disabled and others over forty thousand with less grave injuries. Things worsened when eight thousand people died due to the disaster within two weeks, and more of the same number died of gas-related ailments.

Shocking, isn’t it? Now, where does Satinath Sarangi fit in this scenario, you must be thinking? Before talking about the great man and hero, Satinath Sarangi, let us first delve a bit into his life so things get clearer.

To brush off the rust off your memories, the Bhopal Gas Tragedy was one of the gas leak incidents in a place called Bhopal in India, which is also considered one of the worst industrial disasters on the planet. It was on the fateful night of 2nd to 3rd of December, the year 1984, when a leak took place in the Union Carbide India Limited, abbreviated as the UCIL pesticide plant leaked and emitted highly toxic methyl isocyanate (MIC) gas along with other chemicals and led to the death of innumerous people all over, the official toll being over two thousand. While the actual number of death tolls still is questionable, the number of injured people was over fifty-five thousand, containing over four thousand permanently or severely injured and disabled and others over forty thousand with less grave injuries. Things took to worse when within a period of two week’s time, eight thousand people died due to the disaster, and more of the same number died of gas-related ailments.

Satinath Sarangi was a man born and brought up in the Orissa state of India, and from his early days, he was actively a part of various campaigns which involved doing good to humanity. An engineer and a Ph.D. holder in Metallurgical engineering, Sathyu (as he wants people to call him) his bread and butter was research work, yet he still took an active interest in social work and campaigns.

It was in the year 1984 that he was in a small village about 100 kilometers away from the city of Bhopal. He learned of the gas leak in there via a radio broadcast. The social worker in him triggered, and he sprang into action and thought of helping out the people there in any way he could and reached Bhopal immediately.

However, he never expected the things that he encountered when he entered the city of Bhopal just a few days after the greatest industrial disaster the world was shaken with.

He is known to have stated, “So many different things were happening at the same time. Mass suffering and misery” he was devastated by the sight. He met a man whose story he was quite great enough to share, “I met a man whose hands were covered…in huge blisters. He told me that..all he did for three days and three nights was dig graves. The mass graves- he just dug and dug and dug.”

This man who still shines as a knight in shining armor for the locals in Bhopal is currently a permanent resident there who went there to help the people and stays with them and is still fighting for their rights today.

A man who was just shocked and depressed to see the large amount of casualties that this disaster could bring on, he did not stop at that. Instead, he started off doing relief work for the needy, trying and raising awareness among people.

While doing what he was doing amidst the disaster condition in the city, he knew that an association was necessary to protest against the faults of the government, whose help at that time was insufficient and thus co-founded the Zahereeli Gas Kand Sangharsh Morcha.

This was all happening when the cause of the leak was mostly regarded as the result of bad maintenance and wrong indifference from the management’s end.

While he struggled to help the families still under the terror of the tragedy, even after one month, effective help from the government of State did not reach the survivors.

Sathyu recalls, “We had no infrastructure, no money at all, no members. And, yet 15 000 people came with us” to demonstrate outside the house of the then Chief Minister of Madhya Pradesh, and yes, now he is a part of the then created organizations which was just a proliferation at the time of the disaster.

Two years post the Bhopal Gas Tragedy, Sathyu was still in Bhopal. He came to be one of the founding members of Bhopal Group from Information and Action (BGIA), which was created to provide information and support the various survivor organizations and help initiate international and national campaigns.

While he continues to be a part of Bhopal campaigns and does social work for the survivors, due to the worse medical condition issues which were evident in terms of the gas leak survivors, Sathyu helped in establishing the Sambhavna Trust (meaning possibilities) and the Sambhavna Medical Clinic in the year 1995 which at the moment is full with all modern amenities and age-old techniques of treatment as well the modern ones are used to treat patients.

An educated man who might have had a brighter future had he stuck to his government research work still works for the gas leak survivors in Bhopal, looking after their requirements and medical needs and raising campaigns to resolve any potential issues.

This is what Sathyu is made up of! He is a man with extreme zeal, determination and courage who had the guts to leave his job, serve the people in distress, and still serve them to date!

📎 Related Articles

1. Britannica: Bhopal Gas Tragedy
2. Union Carbide Corporation: Bhopal Gas Tragedy Information
3. Bhopal Medical Appeal
4. The Inspiring Journey of PC Mustafa
5. Narayanan Krishnan: Serving Humanity Through Food