Bhopal kids paying price 30 yrs after India disaster

Sapna Devi Shukla

When Champa Devi Shukla's granddaughter was born with a raft of facial deformities in the Indian city of Bhopal, she was not left short of advice.
"Many people said you should kill her. They said she is of no use, you should stuff tobacco in her mouth" to suffocate her, said Devi Shukla.
"But I thought, I'm not going to let her die. I've already lost three sons to this tragedy so I'm not going to lose someone else."
When a cloud of highly toxic methyl isocyanate (MIC) gas blew across Bhopal on the night of December 2, 1984, around 3,500 people were killed in the immediate aftermath and up to 25,000 are estimated to have died in the long-run.
The tragedy didn't end there for locals living around the Union Carbide chemical plant at the centre of the disaster, with many later giving birth to children with abnormalities.
The government has not confirmed a link, which would have major implications in terms of compensation so far limited to people who were alive at the time of the world's deadliest industrial disaster.
Devi Shukla lost her husband and three sons on the night. One of her daughters, Vidya, was also left partially paralysed after inhaling fumes.
The family was overjoyed when Vidya fell pregnant, but more pain was to come after Vidya gave birth to a daughter, Sapna.
"She was born with a cleft lip and palate. She has had three lots of operations so far" with one still to go to reconstruct her nose, Devi Shukla told AFP.
Sapna, now a happy 13-year-old, says she wants to become a doctor when she is older.
Her own family's experience having convinced her of the link, Devi Shukla helped set up a clinic for children of survivors who have health problems.
The Chingari Trust has 705 pupils, many with conditions such as autism or deafness. The centre provides physical and speech therapy along with schooling and sports.
Rasheda Bee, a co-trustee, says she believes most of the illnesses stem from "drinking poisonous water".
Her determination to help began after she saw her sister and then her three nieces die of respiratory illnesses.
It was fuelled by a trip to Japan, where she met children of victims of the 1945 Hiroshima nuclear bombing.