Foreword
Soon after the Bhopal gas tragedy which rocked the world, a team from the Central Board went for preliminary investigation of effects on air and water. The team observed that the gas had not only taken a large number of human and animal life, but also left a scar on the vegetation around Bhopal.

Ten days after the tragedy, a second team from the' Central Board was sent along with the mobile laboratory, to investigate the effect of the gas on soil and vegetation. The team consisted of Or. Sudhir K. Ghosh, Dr. M. Sen Gupta, Dr. R.C. Trivedi, Dr. D.B. Boralkar, Or. Shyam Lal, Dr. .V .K. Gupta and Shri B.M. Gupta. During the period (from December l3th to December 17th, 1984), the team surveyed the vegetation, collected samples of soil and vegetation, and made spot analysis of plants. Physico-chemIcal analysis of soil was later done at the Central Board Laboratory, New Delhi.

Prof. K.G. Mukherjee, Department of Botany, University of Delhi a.nalysed the soil microflora, Dr. D.R. Das Gupta and Dr. P.K. Chonkar, Indian Agri- cultural Research Institute, New Delhi, analysed the soil nematode fauna and the soil enzyme dehydrogenase, respectively. The Central Board acknowledges the help. rendered by them individually as wel) as to the authorities of the Indian Agricultural Research Institute for permitting their scientists to carry out the investigations at their laboratories.

Photographs in the text were taken by Dr. Ghosh and the report is prepared under his overall supervision. Maps and drawings were prepared by Mrs. Bonya Basu, Shri K.K. Gupta and Shri Ramesh Shahi. Mrs. Kanchan Sharma and Shri Premankur Barua typed the manuscrjpt.