Bhopal gas tragedy: How an entrepreneur’s wife became an activist

BHOPAL: Shanti Devi was 48 when the gas disaster hit the state capital and lived a contended life at a house near the Taj Mahal, where she lived with her husband, her six children and three children of her sister, who was a widow. Her husband owned an ice cream factory and they produced incense sticks at their home. For marketing of their products, they also had around eight to 10 outlets in two localities of Old Bhopal.
Shanti Devi recalls, “I had all the happiness of the world. A loving family, money, jewellery, servants. But, that black night ruined it all. Now, I have only one earning member in the family, my youngest son, who works with a builder”.
Talking about the gas leak on that fateful night, Shanti Devi said, “One of my sister’s daughter had her wedding ceremony that night. Guests had come from outside Bhopal for the marriage. Suddenly, our eyes started itching and throats started choking. The next day, there was rumours of another gas leak. We decided to leave Bhopal and went to Agra for 10 to 12 days”.
Shanti Devi says that though none of her kin died in the tragedy immediately, but exposure to the deadly MIC had taken toll on their bodies. “My husband started having problems in his throat and lungs. He died in 1988,”, she said.
“All my savings were exhausted and doctors were asking for money to treat us and that is when I joined the movement for gas victims and I can say that whatever we got as compensation or other facilities was not given to us by anyone, we won it through our struggle , Shanti Devi said.