"Bhopal: Tragedy Lives On"

"30 Years Later, Survivors of Lethal Gas Leak Still Fight for Justice."

"Shezadi Bee lay on the pavement on a chilly day in central Delhi, less than a mile from India’s parliament building. Along with her fellow crusaders, the 59-year-old woman had been fasting for five days. In mid-November, more than 200 men and women from Bhopal, a city in central India, protested in the country's capital. Their demand: satisfactory compensation and rehabilitation for victims of the world’s worst industrial disaster.

Thirty years ago, a Union Carbide chemical factory began leaking 27 tons of the deadly gas methyl isocyanate, engulfing a large part of Bhopal’s old quarter and immediately killing more than 3,000 people. The city has never overcome its gory past. More than 150,000 people still suffer from cancer, tuberculosis and other serious diseases due to contaminated water and soil, according to nonprofits that work with the gas-leak victims, while children continue to be born with mental disabilities and epilepsy. The economic repercussions, such as a loss of productivity and jobs, have stalled the development of this once-thriving place."

Raksha Kumar reports for Al Jazeera America with photos by Alex Masi December 2, 2014.