Bhopal's economy was stalled by the 1984 gas leak
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Twenty-five years ago this week, a gas leak at a Union Carbide chemicals plant in Bhopal released 40 tonnes of poisonous gases over the Indian city, killing thousands and injuring tens of thousands.
To this day, many of the survivors live in crowded shacks in the slums that line the old factory walls.
The people here are not the only ones who have been affected, however.
The leak, which is often described as the world's worst industrial accident, also knocked the city's economic development back years, if not decades, causing widespread and long-lasting poverty well beyond the areas affected by the initial gas cloud.
"We were growing, and then the Union Carbide accident took place," recalls Rajendra Kothari, Bhopal's resident director of PHD Chamber of Commerce and Industry, which covers 10 Indian states.
"The moment the accident took place, the whole society and the state government became focused on resettling the victims. The focus was not economic development, the focus was on getting a normal life."
http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/business/8380243.stm
To this day, many of the survivors live in crowded shacks in the slums that line the old factory walls.
The people here are not the only ones who have been affected, however.
The leak, which is often described as the world's worst industrial accident, also knocked the city's economic development back years, if not decades, causing widespread and long-lasting poverty well beyond the areas affected by the initial gas cloud.
"We were growing, and then the Union Carbide accident took place," recalls Rajendra Kothari, Bhopal's resident director of PHD Chamber of Commerce and Industry, which covers 10 Indian states.
"The moment the accident took place, the whole society and the state government became focused on resettling the victims. The focus was not economic development, the focus was on getting a normal life."
http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/business/8380243.stm
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