ITV January 31 1995. Written and directed Reviewed by Bala Kumar Ten years on from the gas leak at a Union Carbide factory in Bhopal Mark Tully revisits the scene of the world's worst industrial disaster.
The report focused on how the big companies have shed all responsibility toward the communities of the poor.
Union Carbide's pay out to the victims was far less than the sum that would have been required if the US based firm had committed its crimes at home.
Corporations will be able to use this precedent to hide from every wrongdoing committed abroad.
Tully suggests that the Indian goverment has been complicit in moving the case to India as a result of pressure from the Reagan administration - Carbide is an important partner in the US nuclear industry.
The Indian government compounded it crimes by arriving at a settlement over the heads of the gas affected people.
The survivors have formed their own organisation, the Bhopal Gas Peedit Mahila Udyog Sangathan (BGPMUS), made up of women. Abdul Jabber Khan is its convenor.
Only a quarter of the claims have been settled. The documentary showed how claimants are pressured by officials to accept low awards. Most can't afford the delay. One person dies of gas related illness every day.
In a welcome break from the fake "objectivity" of reports like this Tully makes some hard hitting comments about the leverage that large companies enjoy in their dealings with governments.
He indicates the likelihood of repeats of such disasters in Mexico - where US companies have moved their most dangerous plants. We have been warned. CARBIDE