A tragic tale of Bhopal caught on camera

The Bhopal gas tragedy will always be remembered as one of the biggest tragedies in the world. And what is worse is that the sealed company space of the then Union Carbide pesticide and its surroundings are still very much affected by the incident that took place 25 years ago on December 3.

Renowned photographer Samar Jodha was assigned to document the life of people affected by the Bhopal gas tragedy back in 2004 by a leading British channel. So, for the past five years, he has been documenting the area and now brings to the city images that narrate the sad story of the present day effects of the tragedy.

Samar says, “There are still some zones in the Union Carbide plant where one can’t stand for even 20 minutes, as what follows is a splitting headache. The sealed and the untouched company space is still very badly polluted. Also, the water that is used by people living around the area is heavily contaminated.”

His exhibition focuses on the plant rather than people. He says, “A lot of work has been done on the tragedys effect on people. I wanted to project the present condition of the space. The fact that the space has not been touched for so long, is alarming.”

“What is more important than seeing another toothpaste is trying to bring it to those who do not have access to it,” says Samar who started off his career with commercial photography, but soon found his true calling in capturing the conflict between development and the issues faced by traditional communities. Interestingly, while working on a project, Samar involves himself in all his capacities — even helping to rehabilitate or provide solutions for problems at hand.