May 06, 2008
Bhopal gas victims gate-crash PM house, held
New Delhi: The night of December 2, 1984 has stretched into 23 years, but the Bhopal gas tragedy lives on in the minds of people and in their bodies.
One of the survivors of the tragedy, Rashida Bi says that they are still forced to drink contaminated water as they do not have access to clean water.
Sometimes to survive is also to perish, like 70 of the survivors did, by breaching a high-security zone to literally knock on the Prime Minister's door, hoping that he would hear them.
However, the only ones who heard the victims gate-crashing the PM's residence were his security, who carried the protestors — including 39 children — away, and these survivors once again became victims and landed in the police station instead of getting the justice that they were hoping would be doled out to them.
Fighting ill health, the victims of the 1984 tragedy had walked to Delhi two years ago. A hunger strike that time had won them a meeting with the Prime Minister and they had been promised that their demand for clean drinking water for the 25,000 survivors would be met.
An activist for the victims of the tragedy, Nityanand says, "We walked to Delhi in 2006. Two years have passed and we are yet to receive even a drop of clean drinking water."
Meanwhile, the Group of Ministers on the Bhopal gas tragedy, headed by Arjun Singh is yet to hear them out for an empowered commisson on Bhopal, and a separate law for the gas-affected people, and most importantly, to deliver justice to them.
It has been a very long walk from Bhopal to Delhi and a long wait in Jantar Mantar for the victims of the gas tragedy, which include physically and mentally challenged children.
However, it seems as if the matter was not important enough for the Prime Minister to even consider meeting them — not even when they tried to gate-crash into his residence in a desperate bid to get what every human being deserves, clean drinking water.
Posted by tim at 05:27 PM | Comments (0)
Bhopal children knock at Manmohan’s door
Police personnel preventing Bhopal gas victims from staging a surprise demonstration with their children outside the Prime Minister’s residence in New Delhi on Monday.
NEW DELHI: More than 40 gas-affected children from Bhopal virtually knocked at the Prime Minister Manmohan Singh’s door at Race Course Road to draw his attention to their demands.
The children, along with their parents, made a sudden appearance near the Prime Minister’s residence demanding livelihood and clean environment.
“We are of the same age as the Prime Minister’s grandchildren. Would he let his grandchildren drink poisoned water or see them sitting on the streets for days,” Yasim Khan, who walked from Bhopal to Delhi, said.
On April 16, Yasim wrote a letter to Dr. Singh with blood drawn from the Bhopal gas victims, seeking constitution of an empowered commission to look into economic and medical rehabilitation, environmental clean-up and other issues related to the gas victims.
Posted by tim at 03:45 PM | Comments (0)
'The media has ignored the Bhopal tragedy'
Dominique Lapierre, author of Five Minutes Past Midnight, a book on the tragedy that visited Bhopal in the midnight of December 2, 1984, talks to Sreelatha Menon on the continuing suffering and neglect of the survivors of the Union Carbide gas leak. He was awarded the Padma Bhushan on Monday.
You have written a book on Bhopal and you have continued to visit the survivors since 1984. What is the difference between then and now?
A lot of problems are pending. On May 5, the activists and survivors who went to appeal to the prime minister have got arrested. I think there are a number of questions like cleaning up of the site of the disaster which is absolutely essential.
For lack of cleaning it, the underground water is completely poisoned and people are drinking poisoned water. I think they should be given the right to safe drinking water.
What went wrong? Why has the lot of Bhopal victims remained unaddressed for so many years?
I don't know. It is something to be worried about. Social, health and economic rehabilitation is needed. I have given money from the royalties of my book to build the gynaecological clinic at the Sambhavna Trust.
The trust treats 160 people... free of cost daily.
Yes. These are people who are never diagnosed, people who had only one aspirin tablet for curing their horrible condition caused by inhaling the toxic gas.
This is a very lethal gas. It has gone into the genes of the people. We don't know how many generations would be affected by it. Today, malformed children are still being born, women are getting cancer of the cervix. This is worrisome.
What has been the role of the Indian media?
I am very sad that the Indian media is ignoring this tragedy. When I started doing my research for my book on Bhopal, the media was asking me, 'Why on Bhopal?'. And I was shocked. Had there been a media outcry day after day, no government would let people suffer like this.
Do you think that the issues concerning Bhopal have been neglected because the victims are the poorest of the poor?
Yes. If the rich were involved then the response of the government and the media would definitely be different. On Sunday I was sitting on the sidewalks with the survivors who are camping here in Delhi's Jantar Mantar demanding to be heard by the government. I found that not a line was being written about them in newspapers here.
As you said once that the wind blew that night in the direction where the poorest people were living.
Very true.
You have equated Warren Anderson of Union Carbide with Osama bin Laden, killing more than the latter did, and remaining a fugitive. What do you think about Dow? Should they take responsibility?
They should assume responsibility of Union Carbide. I am sure of that. They should at least clean the toxic affluent.
They say that Carbide has its own mechanism of dealing with liabilities.
I don't know that. I know that Dow must take responsibility at least for the clean up of the toxic wastes.
Have you spoken to Dow?
No, never. But in the future I may talk to them.
Today you will receive the Padma Bhushan from the government of India which you have criticised for not acting enough on Bhopal.
I am just sad not critical. I have no right to be critical as I am an outsider. If I have a chance I will talk about these people. It is sad the voice of these people is not reaching the government.
Posted by tim at 11:15 AM | Comments (0)
May 05, 2008
Indian police hold 80 Bhopal protesters
Ashok Sharma, Associated Press Writer, Boston Globe, May 5, 2008
Nida, 10 months old, an allegedly Bhopal gas leak disaster victim's deformed daughter, looks out from the window of a bus after being arrested along with her parents from outside Indian prime minister's house, in New Delhi, India, Monday, May 5, 2008. More than 40 children of Bhopal gas tragedy victim along with with their parents demonstrated outside prime minister house demanding economic and medical rehabilitation, environmental clean-up and provision of clean drinking water. Bhopal Gas leak disaster killed at least 10,000 people and affected some 550,000 others in the central Indian city of Bhopal in December 1984. (AP Photo/Manish Swarup)
NEW DELHI—Police detained 80 people who walked nearly 500 miles from the site of a catastrophic 1984 gas leak in central India to protest Monday outside the prime minister's residence, an organizer said.
more stories like thisThe protesters, including 52 children, were calling for the site of the Bhopal gas leak to be cleaned up and for survivors to be compensated, said Rachna Dhingra, a spokeswoman for Bhopal Group for Information and Action.
Guards took the protesters to a nearby police station soon after they arrived outside Prime Minister Manmohan Singh's official residence, Dhingra said. They were freed two hours later.
Police officer Jagat Singh said the protesters came without an appointment with the prime minister, and protests are not allowed around the official residence.
The leak from the Bhopal pesticide plant in 1984 killed at least 10,000 people and affected about 550,000 others. A subsidiary of U.S. chemical company Union Carbide ran the plant at the time.
For decades, survivors have been fighting to have the site cleaned up, but they say their efforts were slowed when Michigan-based Dow Chemical Co. took over Union Carbide in 2001, seven years after Union Carbide sold its interest in the Bhopal plant.
The protesters want an official panel to work on social, economic and medical rehabilitation for the gas victims, and to arrange for the clean up of the site and drinking water in the area, said Nityanand Jayaraman, an organizer.
Jayaraman said nearly 10,000 tons of toxic waste was still lying in and around the site.
In 1989, Union Carbide paid $470 million in compensation to victims of the gas leak and said responsibility for the cleanup lay with the government of India.
Dow has also maintained that it is not responsible for cleaning up the site.
The plant is now under the control of India's Madhya Pradesh state, which has agreed to pay an Indian company, Bharuch Environ Infrastructure Ltd., $220,000 to dispose of the waste.
© Copyright 2008 Associated Press. All rights reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten, or redistributed.
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Posted by tim at 05:37 PM | Comments (0)
Police detain Bhopal protesters
Bhopal protesters say babies born since the disaster suffer illnesses
Police in India's capital have detained dozens of protesters demanding more help for victims of the world's worst industrial disaster, at Bhopal in 1984.
They were briefly taken into custody after an unauthorised protest outside Prime Minister Manmohan Singh's office.
They are demanding more compensation and a better clean-up of the site.
Several thousand people died in Bhopal on the night of the gas leak from a Union Carbide factory. Thousands more died in the weeks that followed.
Compensation
The protesters wanted to meet the prime minister to press their case for more to be done to clean up the site around the former factory, which still contains thousands of tonnes of toxic chemicals.
Dozens of demonstrators, including a number of children, were taken to a nearby police station but were freed two hours later.
Police said the protesters had no appointment with the prime minister and demonstrations around the official residence were not permitted.
Many of the demonstrators have been in Delhi for more than a month, after walking 800km (500 miles) from the site of the 3 December 1984 disaster.
The BBC's Chris Morris in Delhi says one key issue is the plight of children born in Bhopal since the disaster who suffer from a variety of mental and physical disorders.
Union Carbide was bought by the Dow Chemical Company in 2001. Dow says it is not responsible for cleaning up the site, which sits on land owned by the Madhya Pradesh state government.
Union Carbide paid $470m in compensation to victims in 1989.
Posted by tim at 05:16 PM | Comments (0)
Fight for justice for Bhopal gas victims going in vain
Posted by tim at 04:24 PM | Comments (0)
40 Bhopal children protesting outside PMO detained
New Delhi, May 5 (IANS) At least 70 survivors of the 1984 Bhopal gas leak tragedy, including 40 children, were detained Monday as they staged a protest outside Prime Minister Manmohan Singh’s residence seeking government-redressal of their grievances. Braving the risks of holding a demonstration in a high-security zone, the children took to task the government for making the Bhopal gas tragedy victims walk and wait merely to get their basic rights to health, livelihood and clean environment.
“We are of the same age as Dr. (Manmohan) Singh’s grandchildren. Would he let his grandchildren drink poisoned water or see them sitting on the hot pavement for 40 days?” Asked 11-year-old Yasmin Khan, one of the two score youngsters who have come to the capital after an arduous 800-km march from Bhopal.
Representatives of the Bhopal survivors have been holding a sit-in protest at Jantar Mantar here for the past 40 days to draw the government’s attention to inadequate health care facilities, poisoned water sources and other problems they continue to face.
On the night of Dec 3, 1984, a Union Carbide subsidiary pesticides plant in Bhopal accidentally released 40 tonnes of poisonous methyl isocyanate gas, killing approximately 3,800 people.
The incident, known as one of the world’s worst industrial disasters, left hundreds of thousands suffering from various diseases after chronic exposure. Contaminated groundwater around the plant area still continues to infect people with various ailments ranging from skin problems to birth defects.
Nityanand Jayaraman, an activist who is protesting along with the survivors, said: “On April 16, Yasmin wrote a letter to the prime minister with blood drawn from Bhopal victims, seeking an hour of his time.
“This letter was delivered to the prime minister along with hand-written notes from more than 500 children from across the country,” he said.
Since then, 2,800 people from 18 countries have sent fax messages to the Prime Minister’s Office (PMO) for a meeting with Manmohan Singh on the survivors’ grievances.
Various NGOs working for the survivors have demanded an empowered commission to execute social, economic and medical rehabilitation, environmental cleanup and provision of clean drinking water.
They have submitted a draft bill for the commission to the PMO and a Group of Ministers.
Posted by tim at 12:49 PM | Comments (0)
April 30, 2008
Bhopal: hundreds of new victims are born each year
Randeep Ramesh, The Guardian, April 30, 2008
Nida, 17 months old Bhopali girl with a congenital birth defect. Photograph: Money Sharma/EPA
· Children of victims suffer but have no health cover
· 23 years after disaster, site has still not been cleaned
Hundreds of children are still being born with birth defects as a result of the world's worst industrial disaster 23 years ago in the central Indian town of Bhopal, say campaigners. They are demanding that the Indian government provide immediate medical care and research the "hidden" health impacts.
More than two decades ago, white clouds of toxic gas escaped from American multinational Union Carbide's pesticide plant. The gas killed 5,000 people that night and 15,000 more in the following weeks - and doctors say that a new generation is being affected.
The true legacy of the disaster is only now coming to light. The Indian government stopped all research on the medical effects of the gas cloud 14 years ago, without explanation. Despite the country's supreme court ordering that the children of victims receive insurance, more than 100,000 remain without cover.
Satinath Sarangi of the Sambhavna Trust, which helps to rehabilitate victims, said that the Bhopal victims' penury and low social status meant few are prepared to help.
No one, he says, has taken responsibility for cleaning up the site and paying the high cost of medical bills.
"Because these people are poor or from a minority or lower caste no one seems to care. Their lives and their children are being sacrificed for the cause of industrial progress," Sarangi said.
Medical experts who had studied the effects of the gas on children born in communities affected by the gas cloud said there was now "no doubt of increased chance of the negative effects in children".
A 2003 study by the American Medical Association found that boys who were either exposed as toddlers to gases from the Bhopal pesticide plant or born to exposed parents were prone to "growth retardation".
Yesterday campaigners, who marched the 500 miles from Bhopal last month and vow to sit in protest in Delhi until the government acts, held a press conference to highlight a new fight for compensation for families whose children have been born with "congenital birth defects".
One of the mothers, Kesar Bhai, held her 12-year-old son Suraj in her arms. She had inhaled the noxious fumes in 1984 and was hospitalised but recovered. Her son, Suraj, was born brain damaged and cannot sit or talk.
"My husband is a labourer. We have no money to spend on our son. He cannot even eat on his own. I get free medical care for my breathing difficulties because I am a gas victim. My child does not get any help but he has been affected," she said.
Other children's growth had been stunted, said campaigners, because there has been still no clean-up of the Bhopal plant despite a promise from the prime minister in 2006. So far, less than 20% of the funds set aside to dismantle and make safe the plant have been spent.
The disused Union Carbide factory contains about 8,000 tonnes of carcinogenic chemicals which continue to leach out and contaminate water supplies used by 30,000 local people. The clean-up has been stalled by a mixture of bureaucratic indifference, legal actions and rows over corporate responsibility.
Dow Chemicals, which bought Union Carbide in 2001, says it is not responsible, arguing that because the plant is on government land it is up to the state to clean it up. However, the Indian government's chemicals and fertilisers ministry has said in court that Dow should pay 1 billion rupees, or £13m, to dismantle the factory and restore the fields.
Backstory
On December 2 1984, the sleeping citizens of Bhopal were enveloped by a lethal fog of poisonous gas spewing from a pesticide plant owned by American multinational Union Carbide. The gas was methyl isocyanate, which when inhaled produces an extremely acidic reaction attacking the internal organs, especially the lungs. This stops oxygen entering the blood, and victims drown in their own body fluids. The Indian government is still pursuing Warren Anderson, the former chief executive of Union Carbide, who keeps a low profile in retirement in New York and Florida. Union Carbide paid a lump sum of $470m in an out-of-court settlement with the Indian government in 1989. When the money was distributed among 570,000 people in 2005, most recipients got little more than £600. Dow, one of the world's largest chemical companies, purchased Union Carbide in 2001. Campaigners then covered its Mumbai offices with red paint, saying it was the "blood of Bhopal". Dow says it never owned or operated the Bhopal plant and it has no responsibility for the events in 1984.
Posted by tim at 01:31 PM | Comments (0)
Bhopal victims present ‘clinching’ proof of apathy
Children of gas-hit parents continue to suffer from disorders
NEW DELHI: Parents of children from Bhopal with serious birth defects presented what they claimed to be evidence of the Government’s criminal negligence towards the next generation of Union Carbide victims at a press conference here on Tuesday.
Present at the press conference were also parents who were exposed to methyl isocyanate and other toxic gases during the 1984 gas leak disaster and those who continue to be exposed to toxic chemicals and heavy metals like mercury in their drinking water from the community hand-pumps.
“The Central Government is fully aware that the children of gas-affected parents suffer from congenital physical and mental growth disorders. For its part, the State Government provided official assistance for heart surgery and congenital brain anomalies to merely 27 children under a programme called Special Assistance to At Risk Children. However, that was terminated in 1997 citing financial constraints,” complained a parent.
The parents of children born with brain damage, mental retardation and cleft lip and palette said the Government continues to disregard a Supreme Court order of 1991 that directed medical insurance for at least one lakh children born to gas-exposed parents.
Among other things, the parents are demanding from the Government special medical assistance, community-based rehabilitation centres and monetary help besides research and monitoring programmes aimed at assessing the magnitude of the problem and early detection of such defects.
© Copyright 2000 - 2008 The Hindu
Posted by tim at 12:36 PM | Comments (0)
April 26, 2008
RTI drive to raise Bhopal gas tragedy issue
Press Trust of India, April 26, 2008
At least a thousand applications to be file to ask what action has been taken by the govt
In an effort to draw attention to the plight of the survivors of the Bhopal gas tragedy, a major RTI campaign will be undertaken and at least a thousand applications will be filed in the next one week seeking information on the action taken by the government.
RTI activist Arvind Kejriwal, who along with the survivors of the gas leak in 1984 is launching the massive RTI campaign, said answers will be sought from the government on what it has done to rehabilitate the victims.
The RTI applications will seek information on issues like the dumped chemicals at the Union Carbide factory site poisoning the environment, gas-leak survivors being asked to pay for their healthcare and why the government was not ensuring that the Union Carbide and Dow Chemicals provided adequate compensation.
Moreover, 50 persons from Bhopal, who marched 800 km from the Madhya Pradesh capital to reach Delhi on March 28, had asked the Prime Minister's Office (PMO) for an appointment as early as February 20.
Since then, more than 1,700 people have sent faxes to the PMO in support of the Bhopal ‘Padyatris'.
"These RTI applications will be sent to the PMO next week to find out what the prime minister has done to keep his word in the last two years," said Kejriwal.
Story Comments Total Post : 1
Posted By : gnsetty on 27 April,2008
This has been LONG OVERDUE.All the politicians guilty in this tragedy must be exposed.First in the list is Arjun Singh, as CM of MP at the time,when he enjoyed free hospitality of club-style bungalow in UC compound and granted all permissions for first manufacturing world 's largest quantity of deadly chemical at UC Bhopal and allowed it to be stored for months when even a small quantity of that chemical was NOT allowed to be stored in any developed country or any country for that matter.
Posted by tim at 02:45 PM | Comments (0)
April 25, 2008
Panel to decide Dow proposal fate as gas tragedy shadow still looms
Gireesh Chandra Prasad, Economic Times, April 25, 2008
NEW DELHI: US giant Dow Chemicals may have to wait for an independent commission’s views before it could firm up plans for mega investments in India. The government is expected to appoint a high-powered committee to comprehensively look into issues relating to the 1984 Bhopal gas disaster, including Dow’s liability to clean up the site.
The American chemical major, with the support of the US government and Indian industry, had been persuading New Delhi to take a view that it is not liable to clearing the site of the toxicity that persists there.
A group of ministers headed by Union human resources development minister Arjun Singh heard NGOs last Thursday, where the activists demanded an independent examination of all issues. The ministerial panel and the government of Madhya Pradesh are inclined to appoint a commission, sources told ET.
The government would decide the structure of the commission in consultation with the law ministry, the sources said. The proposed commission would also look into issues of relief and rehabilitation, lack of co-ordination between various central and state agencies and the day-to-day difficulties of the affected people. It would also have powers to summon stakeholders and give directions. The commission’s report would also be tabled in Parliament.
Letting an independent commission take a view on contentious issues would absolve the government of criticism for putting investments before human rights, especially when general elections and various state assembly polls are expected soon. It would also help the government to take a balanced view on other rehabilitation issues where different government agencies have narrow administrative interests.
Dow’s efforts to be absolved of any legal liability for the slip of Union Carbide Corporation, which it acquired in 2001, has not met with much success as the chemicals and fertilizers ministry has not supported it. The ministry had also asked the company to pay Rs 100 crore as interim advance to clean up the site, which the company has not paid.
Posted by tim at 02:07 PM | Comments (0)
April 24, 2008
Govt hand in glove with Dow Chemicals, say lawyers and retired judges
Express news service, April 24, 2008
Pune, April 23: Around 280 legal professionals, including retired judges and eminent lawyers from Pune and the state have submitted a memorandum to the Prime Minister stating that the attempts by the Prime Minister's office to grant immunity to Dow Chemical from its Bhopal liabilities are unconstitutional and illegal.
In a press meet addressed in the city, activist Neeraj Jain (who represents Kick out Dow, Save Pune) said that a memorandum signed by lawyers, retired judges and law students from the state submitted at the Prime Minister's Office have clearly stated that the government is colluding with Dow Chemical to extinguish its legal liability in an exchange of promise to invest one billion dollars in India.
Dow has maintained that they have no connection with the Union Carbide Corporation, which was instrumental for the Bhopal gas tragedy, Jain said that in the memorandum the lawyers argue that the principles of "polluter pays" and strict and absolute liability for compensation of affected persons, and remediation of damaged health and environment are well established in Indian law.
"By virtue of this the successor company is responsible for the environmental clean-up of the Bhopal site as well as compensation and health reparations,'' said Jain.
Through this proposed settlement, the government cannot let the company off while failing to discharge its "own statutory duties of protecting the environment and holding the polluters liable.'' The movement is extending all support to the Bhopal gas tragedy survivors, who have put up a protest at Jantar Mantar in Delhi.
Jain said that the government should immediately agree to the demands of tragedy survivors, pursue Union Carbide and Dow for their respective liabilities. In a press note, the movement also wants the government to investigate and take action against Dow for bribing Indian officers to register Dursban in India as well as cancel the permission given to start the Research and Development centre at Shinde Vasuli in Pune.
Posted by tim at 02:04 PM | Comments (0)
April 23, 2008
Govt urgency to address Bhopal gas tragedy woes worries activists
Sreelatha Menon, Business Standard, April 23, 2008
THE OTHER INDIA
The Bhopal gas tragedy remains a live issue 23 years after toxic gases leaked out of a Union Carbide plant in December 1984. Recent developments indicate a desire on the part of the government to put an end to it. A series of reports looks at these developments and the continuing presence of 9,000 tonnes of toxic waste on the premises of the plant
There is a sense of urgency in the government to close the chapter on the 23-year-old Union Carbide gas leak case. There has been rapid movement on the government side even as 60-odd citizens from Bhopal, who walked all the way from the Madhya Pradesh's capital, have camped in Delhi since last month.
The Prime Minister's Office has held three meetings so far with the activists leading the agitation and a Group of Ministers on Bhopal, which seldom meets (it has met thrice so far in three years), decided to hold a hearing for the victims last week.
On April 17, the GoM headed by Union HRD Minister Arjun Singh, who was also the Madhya Pradesh chief minister when the ghastly chemical disaster took place, gave an assurance to the victims that their demand for a commission on Bhopal would be considered.
PMO sources now say that the PM is keen to address the issue as early as possible and is waiting for the recommendations of the GoM.
A delegation of the activists was heard out again by a PMO official on Monday.
The activists, though relieved by the progress, smell a rat in the sudden revival of interest in the issue and have already braced themselves with a petition signed by about 300 legal experts seeking legal liability for Dow Chemical.
Satinath Sarangi of the Bhopal Group for Information and Action says: "The government had in 1989 made a settlement with Carbide where the latter was allowed to walk away from all liability for a measly $470 million. Now, it is similarly contemplating another settlement to bail out Carbide?s successor Dow Chemical for small change."
Dow had bought over the assets of Union Carbide and has maintained that it has no legal liability. However, the Union chemicals ministry has an application pending in the Madhya Pradesh High Court seeking remediation from Dow Chemical for the damage caused by the gas leak.
It has asked for an initial deposit of Rs 100 crore for cleaning up of the toxic substances left behind by Carbide in Bhopal. This includes 9,000 tonnes of toxic substances buried in the premises of the Carbide plant, which continue to pollute the groundwater in the area.
Groundwater in about 3-km radius from the area has been affected by poisonous substances buried there, says Sarangi.
The ministry has steadfastly stood by its petition that Dow is liable and has even crossed swords with other ministries that have approved investment by Dow in India.
"I have always been against doing business with Dow or Carbide till this issue of liability is solved," Chemicals Minister Ramvilas Paswan told Business Standard.
"If it was left to me, I would find a solution to the whole issue of damage caused by Carbide, the pending clean-up and the relief measures in two days," he added.
But the PMO seems to be keen on moving even faster. Activists link this haste to the investment plans of Dow in India and the memorandums which were sent to the PMO last year by various ministers pleading the case of absolving Dow of the liability for the Bhopal leak.
A GoM meeting last week gave an assurance that the court alone could decide on the liability of Dow. But the activists do not want to take chances.
On Monday, they brought out a petition signed by about 300 legal experts, including former Justice Rajendra Sacchar, advocate Prashant Bhushan and advocate Indira Jaisingh as a preemptive move against a possible bailout for Dow.
Bhushan said: "It is obvious from documents available that Dow has tried to get people, right from Congress spokesperson Abhishek Manu Singhvi (who is a lawyer for Dow) to Ratan Tata, Commerce Minister Kamal Nath, Planning Commission Deputy Chairman Montek Singh Ahluwalia and even Finance Minister P Chidambaram to plead on its behalf."
"It means absolving an offender because it means billions of dollars of investment for India," says Sarangi.
Posted by tim at 02:15 PM | Comments (0)
April 22, 2008
Memo on Bhopal: lawyers, retired judges question ‘immunity’ to Dow
Express News Service, April 22, 2008
NEW DELHI, APRIL 21: More than 200 retired judges and lawyers have signed a memorandum that says that the attempts made by the Government to grant “immunity” to Dow Chemical from its Bhopal liabilities are “unconstitutional and illegal”. The memorandum alleges that the Central Government is colluding with Dow Chemical to let it off its legal liability in an exchange for a promise to invest $ 1 billion in India.
The group has managed to procure documents under the RTI Act that show that Congress spokesperson Abhishek Manu Singhvi, counsel for Dow Chemicals in the Madhya Pradesh High Court, and Ratan Tata, co-chairman of the US-India CEO Forum, believe that company has no legal liabilities. “Seen in the light of the case in Madhya Pradesh High Court, this collusion constitutes a Contempt of Court by the Government,” states the memorandum.
In 2005, the Department of Chemicals and Petrochemicals had asked the Madhya Pradesh HC to direct Dow Chemical to deposit Rs 100 crore as advance towards clean-up of contamination in Bhopal. A note prepared by former Cabinet Secretary B K Chaturvedi refers to letters from Ratan Tata and from Dow Chemical to the Indian Ambassador in USA, highlighting Dow’s difficulty in investing in India unless the application filed by the Chemicals Department is withdrawn.
The Cabinet Secretary says, “Given the scope of future investments in the sector, it stands to reason that instead of continuing to agitate against these issues in court, due consideration be given to the prospect of settling them appropriately. An important aim is to remove uncertainties and pave the way for promoting investments in the sector.”
Addressing a press conference on Monday, Supreme Court Advocate Prashant Bhushan and former Rajya Sabha MP and senior journalist Kuldip Nayyar said that the Governments of India and Madhya Pradesh and Dow Chemical are “joint tort feasors” and are responsible for the condition of the Bhopal site and its surroundings. Through this proposed settlement, the Government of India is contemplating letting Dow off the hook, even while failing to discharge its own statutory duties of protecting the environment and holding the polluters liable.
Dow has argued that its wholly-owned subsidiary Union Carbide is a separate legal entity that handles its own liabilities, and that the Government of India should pursue Union Carbide and not Dow. “Dow’s argument is specious. Carbide has been an absconder since 1992. Dow knows very well that its subsidiary will not respond to summons from Indian courts,” said Nayyar.
“As a 100 per cent owner of Union Carbide after the merger, Dow is saddled with successor liability. Its attempts to use the corporate veil, separating Dow and Union Carbide, to evade liability is fraudulent,” added Bhushan.
Survivors of the 1984 Bhopal disaster, and victims of water contamination are currently camping in Jantar Mantar after an 800-km padyatra from Bhopal to Delhi. Besides their demand for an empowered commission to address rehabilitation issues, they also want the Government to pursue Union Carbide and Dow for their respective liabilities.
Posted by tim at 01:56 PM | Comments (0)
'Dow Chemicals seeking immunity in Bhopal gas tragedy'
New Delhi, April 22: A CPI member on Tuesday claimed that the US-based multinational Dow Chemicals is trying to seek immunity in the Bhopal gas tragedy case in return for investments in India.
"Today, Dow Chemicals is trying to influence the highest offices in the country - bargaining for immunity in return for investments," D Raja said in the Zero Hour in the Rajya Sabha.
He said Prime Minister Manmohan Singh had assured the survivors of the December 1984 gas tragedy that he would do everything within law to hold Union Carbide and Dow Chemicals accountable.
"In these two years of unkept promises, more than 720 people have died because of gas related illnesses," he said, adding several children have been born with grotesque deformities.
Raja alleged that by "manipulating" officials in the Agriculture Ministry, Dow Chemicals has managed to get registered three pesticides in India, one of which is banned in the US.
"Dursban, one of the three pesticides, is proven dangerous to children. It cannot be sold for home or garden use in the US but it is freely available in India," he said. Raja was supported by his Left party colleagues and SP.
Posted by tim at 01:27 PM | Comments (0)
Growing up in the shadow of Bhopal
Business Standard, April 22, 2008
Thirty-eight days of walking from Bhopal to New Delhi and 18 days of sitting in dharna at Jantar Mantar have not fatigued the people of Bhopal who have been camping in New Delhi to seek justice 24 years after the country’s worst industrial disaster at the Union Carbide chemicals plant ravaged their lives on the night of December 3, 1984.
The civil society groups which have been formed out of the victims’ projected the plight of the children of Bhopal last week to the Prime Minister Manmohan Singh. The appeal also drew attention to the absence of any studies or measures to quantify the impact of the leak on people’s health.
The civil society groups describe the children of Bhopal as victims of two disasters. While the first one was the gas leak itself, the other is the continuing contamination of the ground water near the Carbide plant site.
“While more than 500,000 people were exposed to the poisonous gases, at least 25,000 – many of whom are not gas victims – are being poisoned by the contaminated groundwater,” says Rachna Dhingra of the International Campaign for Bhopal, which is among the agitating groups.
The twin demands being made by the victims are the setting up of a commission dedicated to the rehabilitation and fixing the liability for the disaster on Dow Chemicals, which bought over assets of Union Carbide.
In 1991, the Indian Council for Medical Research abruptly terminated research on the health issues faced by children born to affected parents after the disaster. This was despite the fact that the research’s prinicipal investigator recommended continued monitoring on the basis of findings that confirmed substantial deficits in physical and mental development among children born to the victims, says Dhingra.
Recognising the spate of birth defects, and physical and mental development disorders among second generation victims, the Supreme Court had, in 1991, ordered that at least 100,000 children born after the disaster should be brought under medical insurance cover.
Till date, not a single child has been covered. No schemes exist to extend social support to families with children requiring special care. Between 1992 and 1997, fourteen children received official assistance for heart surgery and thirteen for diagnosis of congenital brain anomalies, under a program called SPARC (Special Assistance to At Risk Children). The programme was terminated in 1997 citing financial constraints.
Of the 65 children examined in a medical camp in December 2006 by Matthew Varghese of St. Stephens Hospital, New Delhi, 31 were found to be suffering from brain damage. Most were residents of contamination-affected areas and brought to the medical camp organised by Chingari Trust.
“The government has categorically refused to extend social pension to families with children requiring special care,” says Rashida Bee, who is also the president of the Bhopal Gas Peedit Mahila Stationary Karmachari Sangh.
Posted by tim at 01:22 PM | Comments (0)
April 18, 2008
Bhopal GoM back demand for Commission
Business Standard, April 18, 2008
Representatives of the three organisations working among people affected in Bhopal by the Union Carbide tragedy expressed satisfaction with the response of the group of ministers (GoM) on Bhopal. The organisations had led a march of 50 Bhopal survivors and their supporters from Bhopal to Delhi, and have been on dharna at Jantar Mantar for 20 days.
The GoM assured the delegation that it would endorse and forward the demand of the people of Bhopal for a special commission to address rehabilitation and legal action against Dow and Carbide to the Prime Minister. The GoM said it would have the law ministry examine the draft bill prepared by the Bhopal organisations before tabling in Parliament.
The GoM also emphasised that it has never conceded the Madhya Pradesh government's request for inclusion of 20 additional municipal wards in Bhopal as gas-affected. The group clarified that it had requested the MP government to submit data regarding gas-related deaths and injuries in the 20 wards but no such data has been submitted till date.
GoM chairman and Human Resources Minister Arjun Singh said that a special commission for Bhopal is justified despite the lack of precedent for any such commission because the Bhopal disaster itself is of an unprecedented nature.
The GoM also expressed its support for demand of the three organisations for legal action against Dow and Carbide. Chemicals and Fertilisers Minister Ram Vilas Paswan assured the Bhopal delegation that the government will continue its efforts to make Dow Chemical pay the Rs 100 crore as advance for environmental remediation.
Paswan also admitted that after the recent fire incident at a toxic waste facility in Ankleshwar that was destined to receive Bhopal wastes, any attempts to send wastes anywhere else in India will be met with opposition from local residents.
Earlier, speaking to Business Standard, Paswan regretted that a rehabilitation package for Bhopal has not been announced 24 years after the tragedy. He said that he was also against any business dealings with Dow Chemicals or Union Carbide which has been bought over by Dow. Carbide owned the gas plant in Bhopal when the leak took place causing the disaster.
Representatives from the three organisations currently sitting on dharna at Jantar Mantar have, till date, met Ram Vilas Paswan (Chemicals and Fertilisers Minister), Chief Secretary to Prime Minister T K A Nair, Rajya Sabha MPs Rahul Gandhi and Sandeep Dixit, national secretary of the Communist Party of India D Raja, general secretary of All India Forward Bloc Devarajan, national president of BJP Rajnath Singh, Lok Sabha MP Hanan Mollah, and Cabinet Secretary Chandrasekhar. Minister of State for the PMO Prithviraj Chavan will meet the Bhopal delegation on 18 April.
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Bhopal gas leak victims step up their campaign in Delhi for justice
New Delhi, Apr 18 (ANI): Victims of the Bhopal gas leak case have stepped up their campaign for justice in New Delhi.
Seeking justice and rehabilitation, the survivors camping have been in the capital for the past few days.
They voiced their dissatisfaction over the promises made by Prime Minister Manmohan Singh.
“Earlier, the Prime Minister had accepted our demands, but none of our issues have been resolved. Our first demand is that a special commission should be formed to take care of our medical expenses and the treatment, said Hajri Bi, a protestor.
Also there should be an investigation. Apart from this it should also provide financial assistance to old people, physically challenged and widows like pension. The area should be cleansed and clean water should be made available,” he added.
They also demanded action against the companies like Union Carbide and Dow Chemicals that are responsible for the condition of the victims.
Over 3,500 people died in the days and weeks after toxic fumes spewed out of a pesticide plant in Bhopal on the night of December 2, 1984.
Officials say, nearly 15,000 people have died since then suffering from cancer and other diseases.
Activists claim that the death toll has reached to 33,000 and toxins from thousands of tonnes of chemicals lying in and around the site have seeped into the ground water.
In 1984, Union Carbide had accepted moral responsibility for the tragedy and established a 100 million dollar charitable trust fund to build a hospital for the victims. The company was later taken over by Dow Chemicals.
The company also paid 470 million dollars to the Indian Government in 1989 in a settlement reached after a protracted legal battle. The victims, on an average, received 25,000 rupees in case of illness and 100,000 rupees or so in case of a death in the family.
Michigan-based Dow Chemical says it is not responsible for the clean up as it never owned or operated the plant. The State government owns the abandoned plant. (ANI)
Posted by tim at 02:36 PM | Comments (0)
April 17, 2008
Child pens letter in blood to Indian PM about plight of Bhopal gas disaster survivors
Pervez Bari, TwoCircles.net, 17 April, 2008
Bhopal: An 11-year old girl Yasmin on Wednesday penned a letter to the Prime Minister of India in blood to get him to meet the long-standing demands of survivors of 1984 Bhopal gas tragedy, the world's worst industrial disaster.
The survivors of Bhopal gas tragedy after 38 days of "padyatra" (foot-march) from Bhopal to New Delhi, and 18 days on"dharna" (sit-in) at Jantar Mantar there with no response from the Prime Minister the letter was penned in blood by Yasmin to stir his conscious over their pathetic plight. The blood was drawn from survivors of the 1984 disaster, and those like Yasmin, who are affected by ground-water contamination in Bhopal.
School children hold the banner
The foot-march was organized by three NGOs namely Bhopal Gas Peedit Mahila Stationery Karmchari Sangh, Bhopal Gas Peedit Mahila Purush Sangharsh Morcha and Bhopal Group for Information and Action working for the survivors of Bhopal disaster.
This letter and letters written by more than 500 children from Delhi and Chennai schools are to be submitted to the Prime Minister's office by a delegation of children. The letters urge the Prime Minister to deliver on promises he made two years ago and do justice in Bhopal.
"Children of Bhopal have the dubious distinction of being victims of two of the world's worst disasters -- one caused by Union Carbide's toxic gases, and the other by the thousands of tons of toxic wastes abandoned by Carbide in Bhopal," said Yasmin. While more than 500,000 people were exposed to the poison gases, at least 25000 – many of whom are not gas victims – are being poisoned by the contaminated groundwater.
Yasmin and other Bhopal children were joined by more than 100 Delhi school children in a rally from Jantar Mantar to Parliament Street in New Delhi to highlight the effects of Union Carbide's poisons on successive generations of children born in water contamination affected areas or to gas-affected parents.
According to Ms Rachna Dhingra of NGO Bhopal Group for Information and Action several studies and expert opinions from doctors confirm that the poison gas from 1984 and the toxins in the ground-water can cross the placental barrier and affect the developing fetus. In the years after the disaster, several scientists reported chromosomal aberrations among gas-exposed people. Such changes in genetic make-up could result in defects manifesting themselves in future generations.
In 1991, the Indian Council for Medical Research abruptly terminated research on the health effects on children born to exposed parents after the disaster. This was despite the fact that the research's Principal Investigator recommended continued monitoring on the basis of findings that confirmed substantial deficits in physical growth and mental development among children born to gas-affected persons, Ms Rachna Dhingra pointed out.
Satinath Sarangi, also of Bhopal Group for Information and Action, said a study published by Sambhavna Trust Clinic in the Journal of American Medical Association in 2003 found that male children born to gas-affected parents were shorter, lighter, thinner and had smaller heads compared to children of un-exposed parents.
Recognizing the spate of birth defects, and physical and mental development disorders among the second generation of the gas exposed, the Supreme Court had, in 1991, ordered that at least 100,000 children born after the disaster should be brought under medical insurance cover. Till date, not one child has been covered, Sarangi added.
Meanwhile, no schemes exist to extend social support to families with children requiring special care. Between 1992 and 1997, 14 children had received official assistance for heart surgery and 13 for diagnosis of congenital brain anomalies, under a program called SPARC (Special Assistance to At Risk Children). But this program was terminated in 1997 citing financial constraints.
A 2002 study by the Fact Finding Mission on Bhopal found trichloroethene and chloroform in the groundwater, and mercury and chloroform in the breast milk of nursing women. All these chemicals can cause birth defects, and have the potential to damage the brain and/or cause cancer. Indeed, out of 65 children examined in a medical camp in December 2006 by Dr. Matthew Varghese of St. Stephens Hospital, New Delhi, 31 children suffered from brain damage. Most were residents of contamination-affected areas, and were brought to the medical camp organized by Chingari Trust. Chingari is a charitable organization set up to provide medical assistance to children with birth defects born to exposed parents by Rashida Bee and Champa Devi with the money they received along with the Goldman Environmental prize in 2004.
"The Government has categorically refused to extend social pension to families with children requiring special care," said Rashida Bee, who is also the president of the Bhopal Gas Peedit Mahila Stationery Karmachari Sangh, one of the co-organizers of the "padyatra" to Delhi, and the ongoing strike in Jantar Mantar.
According to Bhopal survivors’ organizations, the Government has not allocated any money for care of children affected by the exposure of their parents. "The number of children requiring such care will only grow, given that more than 25,000 Bhopalis have been condemned to drinking toxic water," said Rashida Bee.
Bhopal survivors currently camped out at Jantar Mantar have reportedly said they will not return to Bhopal until the PM declares setting up of an empowered commission for provision of medical, social, economic and environmental rehabilitation to the people poisoned by Union Carbide and their children for the next 30 years. (pervezbari@eth.net)
Posted by tim at 02:53 PM | Comments (0)
A letter in blood to Manmohan
Aarti Dhar, The Hindu, Apr 17, 2008
NEW DELHI: After walking for 38 days from Bhopal to reach New Delhi and staying a fortnight at Jantar Mantar here, Yasmin penned a letter in blood to Prime Minister Manmohan Singh.
The aim: To get Dr. Singh meet gas leak victims and survivors and impress upon him the urgency to keep promises he made two years ago.
The blood for the letter written by the girl on Wednesday was purportedly drawn from the survivors of the 1984 disaster and those like Yasmin affected by groundwater contamination.
The letter is among those written by more than 150 school children from Delhi and Chennai. The children have urged Dr. Singh to spare an hour for the victims and keep his promises.
“Children of Bhopal have been victims of two of the world’s worst disasters — one caused by the Union Carbide’s toxic gases, and the other by the thousands of tonnes of toxic wastes abandoned by the company,” Yasmin told reporters. While more than 5,00,000 people were exposed to the poisonous gases, at least 25,000 — many of whom were not gas victims — were being poisoned by contaminated groundwater, she said.
In the years after the disaster, several scientists reported chromosomal aberrations among the gas-exposed people. Such changes in the genetic make-up could result in defects in future generations. In 1991, the Indian Council for Medical Research abruptly terminated research on the health effects on children born to parents after the disaster. This was despite the ICMR Principal Investigator recommending monitoring on the basis of findings that confirmed substantial growth problems in children.
Posted by tim at 02:44 PM | Comments (0)
Relief measures for Bhopal gas victims reviewed
New Delhi, April 17 (IANS) A group of ministers (GoM) headed by Human Resource Development Minister Arjun Singh met here Thursday after a gap of three years to review the relief measures for the victims of the 1984 Bhopal gas tragedy. “The central government should consider annual allocation of Rs.50 crore (Rs.500 million) to the state government for meeting the health expenses of the gas victims and their rehabilitation or should set up a Rs.600 crore (Rs.6 billion) corpus fund for them,” said Ajay Bishnoi, Madhya Pradesh’s Minister for Bhopal Gas Tragedy Relief and Rehabilitation.
“The last meeting of the GoM held in May 2005 had decided to extend the benefits to residents of more areas of Bhopal. It is yet to be implemented,” he told reporters after the meeting at the Madhya Pradesh Bhawan here.
Minister of Chemicals and Fertilizers Ram Vilas Paswan, Labour and Employment Minister Oscar Fernandes, and Madhya Pradesh Minister Ajay Bishnoi participated in the meeting.
The central government July 9, 2004 set up the GoM to monitor and implement the relief and rehabilitation measures for the victims.
The disaster occurred on the intervening night of Dec 2-3, 1984, when over 40 tonnes of methyl isocyanate and other poisonous gases spewed out of Union Carbide’s subsidiary pesticide plant in Bhopal, killing approximately 3,800 people instantly.
The incident, one of the world’s worst industrial disasters, left thousands suffering from chronic exposure. Contaminated groundwater around the plant area still continues to affect public health. Over 15,000 people have died since.
Over 100 school kids Wednesday participated in a rally here in support of the gas tragedy survivors who marched from Bhopal to Delhi, demanding rehabilitation and compensation for them and their children.
Posted by tim at 02:32 PM | Comments (0)
April 16, 2008
Delhi school kids march for Bhopal gas tragedy victims
New Delhi, April 16 (IANS) Over 100 school kids participated in a rally here Wednesday in support of the Bhopal gas tragedy survivors who marched from Bhopal to Delhi, demanding rehabilitation and compensation for them and their children. Echoing the marchers’ demands for an empowered commission to provide medical, social, economic and environmental rehabilitation to those who have suffered since the 1984 tragedy, the children took the march from Jantar Mantar to Parliament Street in the heart of the capital.
“We had all heard of the Bhopal gas tragedy. But after hearing the tales from the people themselves, especially from children, we feel strongly for their cause,” said Raghav Sharma, a student of Shri Ram school.
The tragedy dates back to Dec 3, 1984, when a Union Carbide subsidiary pesticide plant in Bhopal released 40 tonnes of methyl isocyanate gas, killing approximately 3,800 people.
The incident, known as one of the world’s worst industrial disasters, left hundreds of thousands suffering from chronic exposure. Contaminated groundwater around the plant area still continues to infect people with various diseases.
Of the 50 people who took the month-long Bhopal-Delhi march or padyatra of 800 km, five were children.
Rachna Dhingra of the Bhopal Group for Information and Action said the kids who participated in the march were 11-year-olds.
“The marchers, including the children, have just one demand - that Prime Minister Manmohan Singh keep his promises that he made to the people of Bhopal when they took a similar march two years back,” Dhingra told IANS.
Yasmin, one of the 11-year-old marchers, has written a letter to the prime minister in blood, urging him to keep his promises.
“Children of Bhopal are victims of two of the world’s worst disasters. One was caused by the Union Carbide’s toxic gases and the other by the water that is still contaminated due to the tragedy,” Yasmin said.
This letter, along with others echoing similar sentiments and written by school students of Delhi and Chennai, will be submitted to Manmohan Singh by a delegation of children.
The marchers submitted a letter earlier to the prime minister with 20 questions. These include queries like what measures have been taken to ensure medical care to victims of the tragedy and why the government has not taken any steps to prosecute Union Carbide?
Students of the Shri Ram School, Tagore International School and Blue Bells School were among those who participated in the rally.
Posted by tim at 03:59 PM | Comments (0)
April 14, 2008
Activists protest highlighting issues of Bhopal gas victims
Trading Markets, April 14, 2008
New York, Apr 12, 2008 -- Several activist groups led by Amnesty International have held a demonstration here demanding measures by the Indian government to address issues concerning to the victims of 1984 Bhopal gas tragedy.
More one hundred activists and around 50 activist groups protested outside the Indian Consulate here yesterday and called for constitution of a special commission to look into matters like rehabilitation of the victims and quick legal action against Union Carbide and Dow Chemical.
Several thousand people were killed and injured when toxic methyl isocyanate gas was released from the Union Carbide plant on Dec 3, 1984.
Union Carbide has since been bought by Dow Chemicals and activists say the buyer has the same liability as the original company.
The organisers collected over 1000 signatures on a petition addressed to Prime Minister Manmohan Singh, accusing the government of not fulfilling the promises made to the victims two years ago when they organised a protest march from Bhopal to New Delhi, covering nearly 800 kilometers.
"In contrast, over the two years, your office has worked hard to clear a path for Dow Chemical in India. Though Union Carbide is criminal fugitive in India, your government has approved Dow's sale of Carbide Technology to Reliance Industries," the petition said.
The protesters also demanded cancellation of the approval given to Reliance to "purchase" Union Carbide's technology, "aggressively" hold Dow Chemical responsible for clean up of toxic areas in Bhopal and annul registration of four pesticide plants that Dow obtained licenses for by "paying bribes."
Posted by tim at 01:59 PM | Comments (0)
April 12, 2008
Bhopal tragedy: Students protest in NY
Lalit K Jha, NDTV, April 12, 2008
New York -- The ghost of Bhopal gas tragedy, which killed thousands of people on the morning of December 3, 1984 refuses to die down.
A group of about 100 students from various universities in and around New York on Friday held a peaceful demonstration outside the Indian Consulate demanding the Indian Government for speedy justice to the victims of the tragic Bhopal disaster.
These students, members of the Amnesty International US Chapter, had identified Bhopal gas disaster as one of the five global hotspots for continued human rights violations for their ''Get on The Bus'' campaign this year. The other hot spots being; Burma, Sri Lanka, Darfur and Libya.
Displaying placards and banners and chanting slogans, these students said they are outraged at the mistreatment and neglect of Bhopal's survivors. As such they demanded that the Prime Minister, Manmohan Singh should immediately meet the victims of the Bhopal disaster who have just concluded their second march to New Delhi.
''The Prime Minister refuses to meet them. On the other hand his Government has worked to clear the paths for the re-entry of Dow Chemicals in the country,'' Emily Setton, spokesperson for the protestors told NDTV.com.
Following the peaceful protest - that lasted about 40 minutes - a delegation of the demonstrators met officials of the Indian Consulate to submit a memorandum to the Prime Minister, Setton said.
Signed by some 800 students, the memorandum said: ''Though Union Carbide is a criminal fugitive in India, your government has approved Dow's sale of Carbide technology to Reliance Industries.''
As such students demanded this be cancelled by his Government.
''The Government should pursue the extradition of Warren Anderson and Union Carbide Corporation's representatives; work aggressively to hold Dow liable for clean-up in Bhopal; and cancel registration of the four pesticides that Dow obtained for by paying bribes,'' they demanded.
These students said their protest demonstration outside the Indian consulate was to show their solidarity and support to the survivors of the Bhopal tragedy, who are yet to get justice more than 23 years after the tragic incident.
Setton said Bhopal tragedy was selected by the students as one of the five issues for their campaign because they believe it is a watershed event for efforts to hold corporations and governments accountable for the consequences of their actions on people and the environment.
Signatories to the memorandum said they support the demands of the Bhopal victims for a special commission to address economic, medical, social and environmental rehabilitation and oversee the speedy provision of clean and free drinking water.
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