For the 5.5 lakh survivors of the Bhopal gas disaster, the 32nd anniversary today brings small relief from their twin struggles against disability and in the search for justice . Although health facilities are better, the state government has still not issued health cards and full medical histories, despite Supreme Court orders.So, symptomatic treatment is still what they get. And, this leads to them being categorised as having ‘temporary’ disability although it is the 32nd year of recorded treatment. As a result, the central government too is seeking more compensation for them just for temporary disabilities. Meanwhile, all their hopes are pinned on various court cases, winding their way through the legal maze, from Bhopal to Delhi.The disaster happened when a deadly cocktail of poisonous gases exploded out of a Union carbide owned fertilizer factory on the night of December 2/3, 1984. The gas cloud spread over the sleeping city causing choking, burning, and a painful death to many while survivors are debilitated with weak lungs, eye problems, and a host of other gastrointestinal, neurological, genetic and psychiatric issues.In 1998, survivors’ organisations approached the SC for better healthcare to those suffering. In 2012, the court ordered the state and central governments to computerize all patient histories, issue health cards, standardize protocols of treatment and restart research on the condition of patients.Over four years have passed since that order but there’s not much progress, says N D Jayaprakash, who has been fighting for the victims ’ rights. “Even 32 years after the disaster, most of the gas-victims seeking treatment continue to be classed as suffering from temporary injury to deny them compensation for permanent injury,” Jayaprakash said.The compensation for the world’s worst industrial disaster was fixed at a meagre Rs 705 cr in 1989 by the apex court. Twenty one years of protests and advocacy forced the government to file a curative petition in 2010 seeking enhancement of the compensation amount to Rs 7,728 cr. The primary reason was that the earlier deal had underestimated the number of victims.As it turned out, over 20,000 persons have died due to direct consequences of the killer gas and another 5.5 lakh are suffering. But not a single hearing has taken place on the curative petition in six years. The central government doesn’t seem interested and the court has been giving continuations. The criminal case against the Union carbide (taken over by Dow Chemical in 2001) and their Indian partners continues to languish.