National Pollution Control Day 2020: Occasion commemorates victims of 1984 Bhopal gas tragedy

India observes National Pollution Control Day on 2 December every year to commemorate all those who suffered and lost their lives in the Bhopal Gas Tragedy of 1984. Apart from the people who passed away on the day of the incident, many people suffered from cancer and birth defects. Thousands died due to the effects of the tragedy years later. Remembering the horrific effects of the gas leak, the National Pollution Control Day is aimed at spreading awareness about the impact that air, soil and water pollution can have on human beings and how harmful and direct the effects can be. National Pollution Control Day 2020: Date On the intervening night of 2 and 3 December, Union Carbide India Ltd’s (UCIL) pesticide plant in Bhopal had released a toxic methyl-isocyanate (MIC) gas, which was responsible for the industrial disaster. Thus, National Pollution Control Day is observed on 2 December. National Pollution Control Day 2020: Significance As per government figures, the Bhopal gas tragedy had left over five thousand dead. The activists who have been fighting for justice for the Bhopal gas tragedy victims claim that the number of deaths ranges between 20,000 and 25,000 On the intervening night between 2 and 3 December, large amounts of MIC had gotten mixed with the water that was used to cool down the plant. As the leakage released huge quantities of MIC, the toxic gas meshed with the cool air of the night and spread fast in the adjoining localities of the factory. Further, the alarm system at the Union Carbide factory did not go off for several hours and the officials had no idea while the MIC was silently killing thousands in their sleep. The year 2020 marks the 36th anniversary of the grave incident which has been listed by the International Labour Organization as among the world’s major industrial accidents in the last century.