Rs116-crore Hiroshima-like memorial planned at Bhopal Union Carbide leak site

The premises of the defunct Union Carbide factory will be opened to the public from next month, 25 years after a gas leak from it killed and maimed thousands of people, Bhopal gas tragedy relief and rehabilitation minister Babulal Gaur said today.

"Union Carbide Factory premises will be thrown open for public in January. The date of opening has not been finalised yet. The state also has plans to build Hiroshima-like memorial there depicting detailed account of the disaster," Gaur said.

However, he mentioned that people would not be allowed to enter the factory unit, which once manufactured pesticides, but that visitors could see it from a distance.

"The Madhya Pradesh high court gave permission to open the factory premises last week, but given the code of conduct in place for the forthcoming civic elections, we have decided to open it from January," Gaur said. The state has plans to construct a boundary wall around the factory to keep off encroachers, he added.

Gaur, a former Madhya Pradesh chief minister, said that the state government has sought Rs116 crore from the Centre to build a memorial for the victims in the factory premises, spread over an area of 67 acres.

He said that the state wants to build a memorial of international standard — akin to the one in Hiroshima, Japan — depicting a detailed account of the world's worst industrial disaster.