New Delhi, March 19 (IANS) Satinath Sarangi, who has worked among the Bhopal gas disaster victims since 1984, has been awarded "The Week Man of the Year Award".

Minister of Minority Affairs Salman Khurshid presented the award to him here Friday.

Toxic gas leaked from Union Carbide Corp's pesticide plant in Bhopal on the night of Dec 2-3 in 1984, killing and maiming thousands.

Said Sarangi: "What happened in Bhopal is now happening all around the world, the slow poisoning of our environment by corporates. Sadly we are not noticing it just because it is happening gradually."

Bhopal is a microcosm of what goes on in the world, he added.

Sarangi gave up a promising engineering career in metallurgy to tend to the victims of the gas tragedy.

On Sarangi's accomplishment, The Week's associate editor Sachidanand Murthy said: "He worked tirelessly and ceaselessly and took on the might of a multinational and the insensitivity of the Indian government."

Added Khurshid: "You could not have chosen a better person than him to honour."