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March 31, 2006

Bhopal survivors threaten hunger strike unless Dow cleans up site

FORT WORTH STAR TELEGRAM
also carried in DETROIT FREE PRESS
and on WLNS NEWS (see below)

NIRMALA GEORGE
Associated Press

NEW DELHI, India - Survivors of the Bhopal gas leak disaster on Friday threatened to go on an indefinite hunger strike unless the Indian government forced Dow Chemical Co. to pay for the cleanup of toxic waste dumped at the site more than two decades ago.

"Dow should pay for the thousands of tons of lethal chemicals that have been dumped recklessly at the plant site. These are a health hazard and have to be cleaned up," Satinath Sarangi, who heads the Bhopal Group of Information and Action, representing the survivors, said in New Delhi.

The leak of lethal methyl isocyanate gas from a pesticide plant, run by a subsidiary of U.S. chemical company Union Carbide killed at least 10,000 people and affected 550,000 others in the central Indian city of Bhopal in December 1984.

Since then, survivors of the disaster have been fighting to get the site cleaned up, though they say their efforts were slowed when Union Carbide was taken over by Michigan-based Dow Chemical in 2001, seven years after Union Carbide sold its interest in the Bhopal plant.

The plant now is under the control of the Indian state of Madhya Pradesh. Bhopal is the Madhya Pradesh state capital.

A Dow spokesman said the company never owned or operated the Bhopal plant and is not responsible for the cleanup.

"These individuals should place their attention to the government of Madhya Pradesh to make sure that site gets cleaned up," Scot Wheeler said Friday.

Tens of thousands of survivors have suffered the aftereffects of inhaling the noxious fumes and hundreds of deformed children have been born to those who were exposed to the gas leak.

The group of 50 survivors have walked from Bhopal to New Delhi - a distance of nearly 500 miles which took them 34 days - to meet Prime Minister Manmohan Singh and other government leaders to press the Indian government not to buy Dow products and halt any expansion of Dow's business in India.

THE WLNS NEWS VERSION:

BHOPAL SURVIVORS THREATEN HUNGER STRIKE UNLESS DOW CLEANS UP

NEW DELHI, India Survivors of a gas leak disaster in India say they will go on an indefinite hunger strike unless the Indian government forces Dow Chemical to pay for the toxic waste cleanup.
The Michigan-based Dow Chemical took over operations of the pesticide plant located in the central Indian city of Bhopal in 2001.

The gas leak from the pesticide plant in December 19-84 killed at least ten-thousand people and affected 550-thousand others.

The survivors say they have been fighting for years to get the site cleaned up, but say they their efforts were slowed when Dow Chemical took over.

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130 People 800 Km : Bhopal to Delhi

Two decades after the tragedy, ailing gas victims are compelled to drink poisoned water. Will the prime minister help this time, or leave them to their slow death, asks Tanaz K. Noble

Rashida bi, 54, lost her father along with five other members of her family due to cancer. But today, it’s not just the incidence of that fateful night 22 years ago that is plaguing the tens of thousands of the Bhopal gas tragedy survivors. It’s the water they drink, and the generations of mutant children with no one to seek help from, that continues to shadow their existence. “We are breathing gas. Every mother’s milk has poison in it. Cancer and tuberculosis are spreading,” said Rashida. “We’ll go hungry. Die of starvation, but we won’t return till our demands are met. We have come to meet the prime minister so we can live with dignity.”

Out of the 130 survivors that set out on February 20, only 39 made it through the 800-km-long stretch from the Union Carbide factory in old Bhopal to Delhi. Around 500 more victims have joined them in Delhi. Last Sunday they were blocked by the police at India Gate and so were people from the Narmada Bachao Andolan who wanted to join them in solidarity. On Tuesday, March 28, they were brutally manhandled by the police, forcibly dragged and arrested; two women fainted and several children were traumatised. Is this a signal from the prime minister’s office?

All the survivors wanted was to present their six demands to Prime Minister Manmohan Singh, that is, if he at all decides to meet them: a) The setting up of a National Commission on Bhopal to oversee medical and social rehabilitation. b) Supply of safe water to communities currently drinking poisoned water. c) Speedy prosecution of the accused, including Union Carbide Corporation and its former chairman. d) Environmental remediation. e) Curbing Dow and Carbide’s business in India. f) Historically documenting the disaster by including it in the curriculum of schools and colleges and building a Bhopal memorial in consultation with the survivors.

There are 16 colonies in Bhopal where groundwater has been poisoned by Union Carbide’s toxic waste. “My grandchild was born with an abnormally big head. So many women are giving birth to disfigured children,” says Banoo Bi. And what happened to the Rs 25,000 compensation? “Medical treatment. It’s all over.”

Although there is one government hospital that provides free aid to the survivors. Shehzadi, a survivor, says, “We get medicine, but there is no relief. How does one earn without being able to work? Saans nahin le sakti, dikhayi nahin deta, aankhon mein jalan, pet mein jalan, neend nahin aati…”

There have been many promises, but nothing has been done. “In 2004, we, 300 women of Bhopal, tied Babulal Gaur (former BJP chief minister) rakhis on which was written, ‘Bhai, hum behenon ko is zeher se bachao (Brother, save us sisters from this poison).” Nothing changed. In 2005, he promised clean water by 2006. In December 2005, he called us and said, “I never promised any such thing.” He even put a case of thievery on us followed by a lathicharge and seven of us were jailed,” Shehzadi recollects. “My 18-year-old Rubina’s chest hurts so much we suspect she has chest cancer.” At least 25,000 people live within these 16 colonies surrounded by poisoned water. “Hamaraa haq hai ki hum apni zindagi jee sakein,” says Shahzadi. “We too are Indian citizens.”

Will the prime minister help?

Apr 08 , 2006

Posted by bhola at 05:44 PM | Comments (0)

US Senators write to PM, flay Union Carbide

Correspondent : Vibha Sharma
New Delhi, March 29

Survivors of the Bhopal Gas tragedy have received some major international support with 20 prominent US senators writing to Prime Minister Manmohan Singh in support of the "New Delhi padyatra" by Bhopal gas victims. The letter assumes significance as some of the names who have signed the letter also include some "prominent friends of India in the US Congress".

Saying that it is difficult to understand that why so few steps have been taken to alleviate the suffering of the Bhopal survivors" members of the US Congress added, " The Indian Government has repeatedly said that justice will be served, but has exemplified no commitment to this end".

They also took American companies, Union Carbide and Dow Chemical, to task, saying that the US-run Union Carbide built on a poorly designed pesticide plant in Bhopal poisoned local water and therefore should be held accountable for these crimes and their disregard of basic human rights.

Condemning the attitude of Union Carbide and Dow Chemical, they stressed that "the conduct of American companies outside the US was a long-standing concern of ours, especially with regards to the environmental protection standard".

Twenty-one years and many struggles later, as many as 39 survivors of the worst industrial disaster of the world walked into the Capital after a 800-km trek from Bhopal on Saturday that took them 33 days to complete. Stressing that justice still eluded the victims of the Union Carbide chemical leak tragedy that shook the world on that bleak December night in 1984, padyatris, which included some well-known names like Rashida Bi and Champa Devi, would continue sitting on a dharna at Jantar Mantar, here, till their six-point charter of demands was met.

In their letter dated March 23, 2006, the Congressmen expressed outrage at the fact "that the CEOs of the Union Carbide and its successor Dow Chemical were yet to be brought to justice. Survivors had made continuous demands through both protest and litigation, but it had little effect. It was disappointing that the Indian Government had been reticent to pursue Union Carbide and Dow Chemical for their civil and criminal liabilities in the country".

A copy of the letter, signed by Frank Pallone, Barbara Lee, Janice Schakowsky, Dennis Kucinich, Raul Grijalva, Robert Wexler, Joseph Crowley, Donald Payne, Edolphus Towns, Fortney Pete Stark, Sherrod Brown, Carolyn Kilpatrick, Patrick Kennedy, Edward Markey, Steven Rothman, James Oberstar, Major Owens, Grace Napolitand, James Langevin and Tammy Baldwin, had also been sent to the Indian Embassy at Washington.

"At a time when a new generation of victims is surfacing among children born to gas-affected parents and those exposed to contaminated drinking water, the government must take care of those affected by this horrible tragedy. In addition, they must hold the Union carbide and its parent company Dow Chemical responsible for the disaster," members of the US Congress said.

SOURCE : The Tribune, Thursday, March 30, 2006

Posted by bhola at 08:04 AM | Comments (0)

Bhopal survivors threaten indefinite hunger strike

DAILY TIMES, PAKISTAN

Tuesday, March 28, 2006

NEW DELHI: Survivors of the 1984 Bhopal gas leak arrived in the Indian capital on Monday pledging to go on indefinite hunger strike unless their demands for justice and rehabilitation are met.

Around 40 survivors of the deadly poisoning reached New Delhi after a month-long 800-kilometre walk from Bhopal in central Madhya Pradesh state. They were joined by hundreds of other victims for a protest rally near the federal parliament.

“We have been waiting for 21 years now. This time, they (the government) will either meet our demands or our dead bodies,” said Rasheeda Bi, who lost six members of her family to cancer attributed to the leak. “People were falling dead when the gas leaked. We prayed for our deaths. Those who died were very lucky,” she said.

More than 3,500 people died immediately after 40 tonnes of lethal methyl isocyanate gas seeped from a Union Carbide plant just before midnight on December 2, 1984.

The death toll has since climbed to more than 15,000, according to government figures. Rights activists say the toll is double and that people are still suffering from drinking toxic water. The protestors shouted slogans and carried placards calling for justice. They are scheduled to meet Prime Minister Manmohan Singh this week to press their demands, which include better medical treatment, the clean-up of toxic waste and uncontaminated piped water from a nearby dam, and the prosecution of Warren Anderson, former Union Carbide chief. AFP

Posted by bhola at 01:46 AM | Comments (0)

March 30, 2006

Bhopal victims see glimmer of hope

MINISTER MEETS 39 SURVIVORS OF 1984 TRAGEDY
GOVERNMENT VOWS TO PUSH FOR GAS LEAK CLEANUP, REPARATION

by Rajshree Sisodia

SPECIAL TO THE TORONTO STAR

Mar. 30, 2006. 01:00 AM

NEW DELHI—Survivors of the 1984 Bhopal chemical leak were cautiously optimistic yesterday after senior Indian government ministers agreed to push for a cleanup of the contaminated Union Carbide plant and compensation for victims.

Ram Vilas Paswan, the federal minister for chemicals and fertilizers, yesterday met 39 surviving victims of the tragedy, which killed thousands when 40 tonnes of toxic gas leaked from the former Union Carbide pesticide plant the night of Dec. 3, 1984.

In the 22-plus years since, the death toll has topped 15,000.

Survivors want the Indian government to help in their ongoing battle to have the company prosecuted, to have access to safe drinking water and for the decontamination of the now-derelict factory and the surrounding areas.

The talks came after hundreds of victims marched from Bhopal to New Delhi on Saturday in their ongoing fight for justice. They have vowed to stay in the capital until their demands are met, and hope yesterday's talks will pave the way for dialogue with Indian Prime Minister Manmohan Singh.

Bano Bee, a 60-year-old widow from the J.P. Nagar colony, a stone's throw from the former pesticide plant in Old Bhopal, said protestors would go on hunger strike if their demands were not met.

Before the meeting Paswan, the mother of seven said: "Why should the prime minister ignore our demands? We will stay here in Delhi until we get what we want."

Key to the protestors' demands is decontamination of the disused factory and the surrounding areas, including Old Bhopal's groundwater sources, which survivors claim are continuing to poison a new generation of people through contaminated drinking water.

Victims are also pushing for U.S.-based Dow Chemical Co., which took control of Union Carbide in 2001, to stand trial and accept responsibility for the tragedy.

Victims also renewed demands that former Union Carbide chairman Warren Anderson, who absconded from the Indian courts after being charged with manslaughter, be extradited from the United States to India.

Union Carbide says responsibility for decontamination of the Bhopal site now lies with the Madhya Pradesh state government, which assumed control of the plant in 1998. Dow maintains that, because it only took control of Union Carbide in 2001, it bears no responsibility for the leak or contamination.

Satinath Sarangi, a member of the Bhopal Group for Information and Action, said: "The ball is squarely in the lap of the prime minister who will have to choose between Dow Chemical and the people of Bhopal."

New Delhi made a number of moves yesterday in reaction to the victims' demands. It recommended a national commission that would: co-ordinate and fund health care for victims' families; support funding for safe drinking water projects; recommend the inclusion of the Bhopal tragedy as a subject in the national school curriculum; and push the Indian Central Bureau of Investigation to re-apply for Anderson's extradition.

The response marks a breakthrough for the gas survivors' campaign after decades of governmental apathy. The U-turn comes amid growing pressure, from in and outside the sub-continent, for the victims' demands to be met. Twenty U.S. Congress members, led by Democrat Frank Pallone Junior, last week wrote to Singh urging New Delhi to act.

"It is outrageous that the CEOs of Union Carbide and its successor, Dow Chemical, have yet to be brought to justice... The Indian Government has repeatedly said that justice will be served but has exemplified no commitment to this end. At a time when a new generation of victims is surfacing among children born to gas-affected parents and those exposed to contaminated drinking water, the (Indian) Government must take care of those affected by this horrific tragedy," the letter said.

Last night, an official with the Indian prime minister's office said they had received the gas victims' request to meet Singh but added that a date for talks had yet to be finalized.

"We will get back to them when a time is fixed. I cannot tell you a time frame, (but) we will let them know," the official said.

The tragedy in Bhopal left virtually no homes untouched. Thousands of people were killed in the immediate aftermath of the disaster in late 1984, while activists claim another 12,000 men, women and children have since died as a result of gas-exposure related illnesses.

In the areas surrounding the factory site, where 550,000 people now live, ongoing exposure to contaminated water supplies has spawned a new legacy of victims.

Independent research commissioned by environmental group Greenpeace revealed the groundwater around the pesticide plant is unsafe for human consumption.

The findings, in 1999, showed the groundwater contained "high concentrations" of the insecticide Sevin and mercury. Water samples taken from wells near the factory showed the presence of carbon tetrachloride, which the U.S. Agency for Toxic Substances and Disease Registry says can cause damage to the liver, nervous system and kidney, and is a "probable" human carcinogen, according to the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency.

Levels of carbon tetrachloride found were more than 1,700 times the World Health Organization limit for safe drinking water.

Rajeshree Sisodia is a freelance journalist based in India.

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Bhopal gas victims assured all help

PIB

29 March, 2006

A representative group of the Bhopal gas victims was assured all possible help by the Minister of Chemicals, Fertilizers and Steel, Shri Ram Vilas Paswan here this evening.

The delegation presented a charter of six demands to the Minister seeking relief for the sufferers of one of the world's worst industrial disasters which happened on December 3,1984. A couple of thousand people had lost their lives in the tragedy which left thousands others crippled.

[Ed: Bhopal remains the world's worst industrial disaster. At least 8,000 people were killed in the incident and its immediate aftermath, over half a million were injured, of whom many have since died of their injuries: the total death-toll attributable to the gas has by now climbed above 20,000. In the city today more than 120,000 people remain chronically ill. To which must be added the illnesses and deaths among a further 20,000 people who for years have been drinking water poisoned by chemicals seeping from Union Carbide's abandoned factory. Figures verified by the International Campaign for Justice in Bhopal.]

The delegation walked all the way from Bhopal to Delhi. It wanted a National Commission to be set up with necessary powers and funds for health care, medical research and social and economic rehabilitation of the victims of their children. Shri Paswan said that the Department of Chemicals and Petrochemicals would consult the concerned Central Ministries and Departments to do all that can be done for their relief. A Group of Ministers for the Bhopal Gas Leak Disaster is already in place. The delegation urged the Minister to direct the present owner of the Union Carbide to clean up the plant site and expedite work to restore the local environment which was badly damaged in the disaster. Shri Paswan told the delegation that the Secretary, Chemicals and Petrochemicals would soon discuss with the Madhya Pradesh Government the issues raised by them.

(PIB)

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Centre to address Madhya Pradesh Govt on Bhopal gas tragedy issues

THE HINDU - TOP STORIES

New Delhi, Mar. 29 (PTI) The Centre will soon discuss with the Madhya Pradesh government issues raised by the Bhopal gas victims, Union Chemicals and Fertiliser Minister Ram Vilas Paswan today said.

He gave this assurance to a delegation of victims here, an official release said.

The delegation sought relief for the victims of one of the world's worst industrial disasters that occurred in 1984.

Paswan told the delegation that Chemicals and Petrochemicals Secretary would soon discuss the issues raised by them with the state government, the release added.

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March 29, 2006

Bhopal victims in long walk for clean water

By Palash Kumar

NEW DELHI (Reuters) - More than 20 years after the world's worst industrial disaster, victims of the Bhopal gas leak have stepped up their campaign for clean drinking water with an indefinite sit-down in the Indian capital.

More than 3,500 people died in the days and weeks after toxic fumes spewed out of a pesticide plant in the central Indian city in December 1984.

Officials say nearly 15,000 people have died since from cancer and other diseases. Activists put the death toll at 33,000 and say toxins from thousands of tonnes of chemicals lying in and around the site have seeped into the groundwater.

Some victims initially survived the disaster after breathing in the gas only to suffer a slow, painful death.

Others died, or are still dying, from polluted drinking water. Activists and survivors say lethal chemicals lying untouched in and around the abandoned pesticide plant are still fouling the groundwater.

Fed up with the failure to clean-up the area, about 50 survivors decided last month to take the matter to Prime Minister Manmohan Singh.

They set off on foot from their modest homes in the bylanes of Bhopal to the corridors of power in New Delhi.

"We have come here to meet the prime minister and until we meet him and our demands are met, we will not go back," Rashida Bi, a flagbearer of the two-decade-old fight for "life, dignity and water", told Reuters.

Bi is among the group that walked 800 km (500 miles) cutting through the hot plains of central and north India from Bhopal, the populous capital of central Madhya Pradesh state.

"The water we drink is poison. Six of my family have died of cancer. Children are born with holes in their heart. They become abnormal as they grow. Adults have stomach illnesses," she said.

There is no piped water in the area where Bi lives, close to the factory compound. At least 20,000 people are forced to use handpumps which draw water from the ground, residents say.

On the night of December 2 1984, clouds of deadly methyl isocyanate gas billowed from the factory, then owned by Union Carbide, now a subsidiary of Dow Chemical Co.

Many survivors remember their eyes stinging as they tried to escape. Others vomited blood.

As the months passed, another disaster began unveiling itself, silently trickling into homes and killing people.

Activists say studies by experts have revealed that thousands of tonnes of toxins, including carcinogens such as trichloral ethylene, benzene hexachloride and mercury, have been found in groundwater near the factory.

WHOSE JOB IS IT ANYWAY?

Toxic waste still litters the complex and a landfill just outside. There is an argument over who should clean up the mess -- Dow or the government.

"The polluter should clean," said Nityanand Jayaraman, one of the many social activists who have campaigned for the victims.

"We want the government of India to play a more proactive role in making the polluter clean the mess."

Union Carbide paid $470 million in compensation to victims of the disaster and says responsibility for the clean-up lies with the government, which took over the site in 1998.

[Ed, Bhopal.Net: The Indian government and Madhya Pradhesh government have both repeatedly stated that the responsiblity for paying for the clean up rests with Union Carbide/Dow. A letter has even been filed with a US court to this effect. There was never any question of the state "taking over" the site, because the site was always state property to start with, and was merely leased to Union Carbide. It is truer to say that Union Carbide, having made perfunctory attempts to hide the waste, simply abandoned the site.]

Posted by bhola at 06:24 PM | Comments (0)

Bhopal protesters detained in Delhi

THE HINDU

39 survivors of the gas tragedy reached the Capital after a month-long, 800-km walk from Bhopal

NEW DELHI: Over 100 protesters, comprising mostly women, demanding the rehabilitation of survivors of the 1984 Bhopal gas tragedy were detained by the police for staging a dharna outside Shastri Bhavan here on Tuesday.

The protesters refused to leave without a positive response from the Union Minister for Chemicals and Fertilizers, Ram Vilas Paswan. Around 4 p.m., the police detained them and took them to the Parliament Street police station. They were kept there till late evening. "We are contemplating legal action against them as we want to discourage the practice of such big protests in the high-security zones," said a police officer.

Two of the protestors were injured when they were forcibly removed by the police. On Monday, the protesters had organised a march from Nizamuddin Park to Jantar Mantar.

Threaten indefinite fast

They threatened to go on an indefinite fast if their demands were not met. Representatives from Delhi University and Jawaharlal Nehru University, activists of Narmada Bachao Andolan, trade union members and members of various non-Government organisations had also joined them.

The protestors have been demanding setting up of a national commission on Bhopal to oversee medical and social rehabilitation.

As many as 39 survivors of the gas tragedy had reached the Capital on Saturday after a month-long, 800-km walk from Bhopal.

Posted by bhola at 08:44 AM | Comments (0)

March 28, 2006

Police arrest over 100 Bhopal activists

NDTV Correspondent

Tuesday, March 28, 2006 (New Delhi):

The police have arrested over a hundred Bhopal activists, including women and children, from outside the Ministry of Chemicals in the capital.

Survivors of the gas tragedy, activists and supporters had launched a dharna outside the ministry on Tuesday.

They were demanding clean water, rehabilitation and the clean up of the soil and water around the abandoned Union Carbide factory in Bhopal.

Thirty-nine survivors of the gas tragedy arrived in the capital a few days ago after marching 800 kilometres.

Twenty-one years after the worst industrial disaster in the world, people living around the abandoned factory still get contaminated water.

Posted by bhola at 08:16 PM | Comments (0)

Bhopal gas tragedy survivors seek 'concrete action'

TIMES OF INDIA

NEW DELHI: Over 400 survivors of the Bhopal gas tragedy staged a sit-in outside the Union Ministry of Chemicals and Fertilisers here and threatened to continue their protest indefinitely if their demand of concrete action to ensure livelihood and rehabilitation for the victims are not met.

The survivors, including the 37 who undertook a 'padyatra' from Bhopal to Delhi, began their dharna and said they would not leave until Union Minister for Chemicals and Fertilisers Ram Vilas Paswan, who is currently not in town, "clearly spelt out" his strategy to provide succour to them.

"Isn't he responsible for clearing up that chemical dump? Isn't it his duty to resolve this issue pending for the past 21 years?," asked Shehzaadi, one of the victims of the Union Carbide gas leak.

"We met Paswan last year too. Then he had said he would send a team to investigate into the matter within next eight days. But nothing has happened so far. We have no jobs also. How can the government treat us like animals?" she asked.

The survivors were protesting outside the Union Ministry of Chemicals as it houses the Bhopal Cell and convenes the Group of Ministers set up on the issue of providing compensation to the gas tragedy victims...

The survivors claim the Union government is being cornered on the issue as 20 US Congresss members had written to Prime Minister Manmohan Singh asking him to take action against Union Carbide and its new owner Dow Chemicals.

"Apart from this, even the Parliamentary Standing Committee on Public Grievances had asked the government why Bhopal remains unresolved till now," said Nityanand Jayaraman, an activist working with the survivors.

The victims assert they will present the memorandum of their six demands -- livelihood, water, medical rehabilitation, environmental remediation -- only to the Prime Minister.

The members of about 16 communities in and around the now-abandoned Union Carbide plant allege the water, land and air in the area remained contaminated causing deformities in infants and many other diseases.

They allege that despite the May 2004 Supreme Court order directing the Madhya Pradesh government to provide clean water, no relief has reached them as they are forced to drink and use toxic water.

Posted by bhola at 03:53 PM | Comments (0)

Bhopal survivors urge Centre to take "concrete action"

New Delhi: Over 400 survivors of the Bhopal gas tragedy staged a sit-in outside the Union Ministry of Chemicals and Fertilisers here and threatened to continue their protest indefinitely if their demand of concrete action to ensure livelihood and rehabilitation for the victims are not met.

The survivors, including the 37 who undertook a 'padyatra' from Bhopal to Delhi, began their dharna and said they would not leave until Union Minister for Chemicals and Fertilisers Ram Vilas Paswan, who is currently not in town, "clearly spelt out" his strategy to provide succour to them.

"Isn't he responsible for clearing up that chemical dump? Isn't it his duty to resolve this issue pending for the past 21 years?," asked Shehzaadi, one of the victims of the Union Carbide gas leak.

"We met Paswan last year too. Then he had said he would send a team to investigate into the matter within next eight days. But nothing has happened so far. We have no jobs also. How can the government treat us like animals?," she asked.

The survivors were protesting outside the Union Ministry of Chemicals as it houses the Bhopal Cell and convenes the Group of Ministers set up on the issue of providing compensation to the gas tragedy victims.

The survivors claim the Union government is being cornered on the issue as 20 US Congresss members had written to Prime Minister Manmohan Singh asking him to take action against Union Carbide and its new owner Dow Chemicals.

"Apart from this, even the Parliamentary Standing Committee on Public Grievances had asked the government why Bhopal remains unresolved till now," said Nityanand Jayaraman, an activist working with the survivors.

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Gas victims vow not to return to Bhopal until demands met

Published: Tuesday, 28 March, 2006, 10:50 AM Doha Time

NEW DELHI: Hundreds of victims of the Bhopal gas tragedy staged protests here yesterday and demanded that a national commission be set up to solve their problems.

“We have a six-point charter of demand and we will not return to Bhopal till the prime minister assures us that it will be fulfilled,” said Champa Devi Shukla, one of the victims of the tragedy.

“One of the most important demands is the setting up of a national commission for the thousands of victims,” she added.

The victims of the 1984 gas leak disaster at a Union Carbide plant started their 800km march from Bhopal to the Indian capital on February 20, reaching here on Saturday.

“The national commission should comprise victims, academics, doctors, engineers, environmentalists and authorities of the central and the state governments. The whole idea is to have a dedicated cell for the survivors of the tragedy,” Shukla said.

Yesterday, the survivors of the worst industrial tragedy that claimed an estimated 20,000 lives and maimed thousands were joined by several non-government organisations, green activists, trade unions and students of the Delhi University and Jawaharlal Nehru University.

Shouting slogans like ‘No More Bhopal’, ‘Dow Chemicals clean up Bhopal’, ‘We need Justice’, the protesters marched from Nizamuddin to Jantar Mantar in the heart of New Delhi. “It’s been 21 years and we are still waiting for clean water, for dignity. The prime minister must listen to our demands,” said Rashida Bi, another survivor.

They also demanded that Dow Chemicals be blacklisted in India.

“We want that Dow should own up. They must clean up the area. People are still drinking poisoned water,” said Satinath Sarangi, a member of the Group for Information and Action.- Agencies

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Bhopal gas tragedy survivors march in Delhi

Staff Reporter, The Hindu

Threaten to go on an indefinite fast if the Government fails to agree to their charter of demands

NEW DELHI: Survivors of the 1984 Bhopal gas tragedy marched to Parliament Street from Nizamuddin Park here on Monday morning demanding justice and rehabilitation for the victims.

They also threatened to go on an indefinite fast if the Government fails to agree to their charter of demands.

The protestors are demanding appointment of a National Commission on Bhopal to oversee medical and social rehabilitation, supply of safe drinking water to communities now drinking contaminated water, speedy prosecution of the accused, including Union Carbide Corporation and its former chairman, environmental remediation and memorialising the disaster by including it in school and college curricula and building a Bhopal Memorial in consultation with survivors

The protestors were joined by representatives from Delhi University and Jawaharlal Nehru University, activists of Narmada Bachao Andolan and trade unions members and various non-government organisations. Also participating were people from communities affected by pollution including silicosis victims from Wazirpur and others from different parts of the country. On Saturday, 39 survivors of the gas tragedy had reached New Delhi after a month-long 800-km walk all the way from Bhopal.

"It is unfortunate that the Government treats our life and death issues so casually. We are tired of repeating the same demands for 21 years and returning with empty promises from successive Prime Ministers. This time, we will not return to Bhopal with mere promises; we will leave Delhi only after all our six demands are fulfilled," said survivor-activist Champa Devi Shukla.

Champa Devi was also part of a 100-women delegation that marched from Bhopal to Delhi in June 1989 to meet the then Prime Minister Rajiv Gandhi. They returned with promises, which she claims have remained unfulfilled to date.

According to the protestors, the 800-km march and subsequent sit-in in New Delhi is prompted by a growing closeness between the Government of India and Union Carbide's owner Dow Chemical of the U.S..

Also, as summer approaches the water-affected communities are particularly concerned about the drinking water situation.

"It doesn't take much to provide us drinking water. Every day we hear about mega industrial investments. How is it that they find water for industries when they can't find any for country's poor?" asked Shameem, a resident of Atal Ayub Nagar, where the scientists found extremely high levels of pollutants in the water from community hand pumps.

Posted by bhola at 08:15 AM | Comments (0)

Bhopal gas victims demand a national commission

March 27, 2006

By Indo Asian News Service

New Delhi, March 27 (IANS) Hundreds of victims of the Bhopal gas tragedy of 1984 staged protests here Monday and demanded a national commission to look into their pending issues.

'We have a six-point charter of demand and we will not return to Bhopal till the prime minister assures us that it would be fulfilled,' said Champa Devi Shukla, one of the victims of the tragedy.

'One of the most important demands is the setting up of a national commission for the thousands of victims,' she added.

The victims of the 1984 gas leak disaster at a Union Carbide plant had started their 800-km march from Bhopal to the Indian capital on Feb 20, reaching here Saturday.

'The national commission should comprise victims, academics, doctors, engineers, environmentalists and authorities of the central and the state government. The whole idea is to have a dedicated cell for the survivors of the tragedy,' Shukla told IANS.

On Monday, the survivors of the worst industrial tragedy that claimed an estimated 20,000 lives and maimed several thousands were joined by several other NGOs, green activists, trade unions and students of the Delhi University and Jawaharlal Nehru University.

Shouting slogans like 'No More Bhopal', 'Dow Chemicals clean up Bhopal', 'We need Justice', the protesters marched from Nizamuddin to Jantar Mantar in the heart of the capital.

Copyright Indo-Asian News Service

Posted by bhola at 08:12 AM | Comments (0)

Bhopal gas victims complete march to Indian capital, BBC says

March 28 (Bloomberg) -- Survivors of the 1984 chemical disaster in the Indian city of Bhopal completed an 800-kilometer (500-mile) march to the capital, New Delhi, to demand that compensation payments be met, the British Broadcasting Corp. said.

About 40 survivors made the journey in 33 days, arriving yesterday in the capital, the BBC reported. The group says Bhopal still needs safe drinking water and a clean-up of the local environment, the report said.

The group is demanding a meeting with Indian Prime Minister Manmohan Singh, the BBC reported. In 1989, about 100 women from Bhopal marched to New Delhi and met then Prime Minister Rajiv Gandhi to demand more compensation, the BBC said.

An explosion at a Union Carbide fertilizer plant on Dec. 3, 1984, released methyl isocyanate gas in Bhopal, the capital of Madhya Pradesh state in central India. At least 15,000 people died as a result of the disaster. Union Carbide, a wholly owned subsidiary of Dow Chemical Co., the biggest U.S. chemical company, paid the Indian government $470 million in 1989 as part of an out-of-court settlement for claims in Bhopal.

(British Broadcasting Corp. 28 March, 2006)

Posted by bhola at 08:11 AM | Comments (0)

March 27, 2006

Bhopal gas victims march to Delhi

BBC SOUTH ASIA SERVICE

Survivors of the world's worst industrial disaster in the Indian city of Bhopal have marched all the way to parliament in the capital, Delhi.

Protestors at a march of Bhopal gas tragedy victims in Delhi. The survivors walked 800 km in 33 days to reach Delhi

About 40 survivors of the December 1984 disaster made the 800km (500-mile) journey in 33 days. They say demands for compensation are still to be met.

Thousands of people were killed when poisonous gas leaked from Union Carbide's factory in Bhopal.

This is the second time survivors have marched to Delhi in protest.

Drinking water

The BBC's Navdip Dhariwal in Delhi says more than 21 years after the gas tragedy the survivors' demands remain unchanged.

Survivors are demanding for safe drinking water among other things

The group of survivors, who began their trek in mid-February, said they were campaigning for safe drinking water and a clean-up of the local environment.

The survivors also want a stake in a committee they believe should be set up to oversee the medical and social rehabilitation of people affected by the lethal gas.

The group say they have been promised an audience with Prime Minister Manmohan Singh and have refused to leave Delhi until their demands are met.

They have also threatened to go on hunger strike if their demands are ignored.

In 1989, 100 women met the then Prime Minister Rajiv Gandhi but they returned to Bhopal with empty promises, the survivors said.

Posted by bhola at 08:57 PM | Comments (0)

Bhopal gas leak survivors threaten indefinite hunger strike

Mon Mar 27, 10:05 AM ET

NEW DELHI (AFP) - Survivors of the 1984 Bhopal gas leak arrived in the Indian capital pledging to go on indefinite hunger strike unless their demands for justice and rehabilitation are met.

Around 40 survivors of the deadly poisoning reached New Delhi after a month-long 800-kilometre (500-mile) walk from Bhopal in central Madhya Pradesh state.

They were joined by hundreds of other victims for a protest rally near the federal parliament.

"We have been waiting for 21 years now. This time, they (the government) will either meet our demands or our dead bodies," said Rasheeda Bi, who lost six members of her family to cancer attributed to the leak.

"People were falling dead when the gas leaked. We prayed for our deaths. Those who died were very lucky," she said.

More than 3,500 people died immediately after 40 tonnes of lethal methyl isocyanate gas seeped from a Union Carbide plant just before midnight on December 2, 1984.

The death toll has since climbed to more than 15,000, according to government figures. Rights activists say the toll is double and that people are still suffering from drinking toxic water.

The protestors shouted slogans and carried placards calling for justice.

They are scheduled to meet Prime Minister Manmohan Singh this week to press their demands, which include better medical treatment, the clean-up of toxic waste and uncontaminated piped water from a nearby dam, and the prosecution of Warren Anderson, former Union Carbide chief.

"We were given assurances by the government in 1989 that the demands will be met, but nothing came out of that. This time, we will not relent," said Nityanand Jayaraman, spokesman for the International Campaign for Justice in Bhopal.

"Things have gone worse. The chemicals have spread to the ground water," he said.

Bhopal residents living around the sealed Carbide plant said they were still reeling from the effects of contamination.

"My daughter-in-law just gave birth to a baby. The boy is totally emaciated," said Kankar Bai, 45, whose husband, daughter, and son's family perished in the disaster. "I go mad when I think of that night."

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Bhopal survivors demand livelihood, rehabilitation

New Delhi, March. 27 (PTI): Hundreds of survivors of the Bhopal gas tragedy today staged a demonstration here demanding medical rehabilitation, livelihood and environmental remediation for the victims fighting chronic ailments for the past 21 years.

Concluding an 800-km 'padayatra' from Bhopal to Delhi, 37 victims, who reached over the weekend, were joined by hundreds of other survivors as they began an indefinite strike till the issue was resolved "once and for all".

"Twenty one years is a long time. The government has been sleeping all this while. It is a do or die battle for us this time," Rasheeda Bi, one of the survivors of the tragedy at the Union Carbide plant in Bhopal in 1984, said.

"We will present a six-point charter to the government. Besides medical relief, we want employment too. We are working as labourers. We want permanent livelihood and pension," she added.

Shouting anti-Manmohan Singh Government slogans for "talking business" with Dow Chemicals, which took over Union Carbide factory, the survivors accused the authorities of overlooking their interests.

"The government does not seem to be bothered about us. Those responsible for this suffering are still roaming free. While Union Carbide and its officials should be punished, Dow Chemicals should address long-pending issues of health and clean water," said an agitated Chhote Khan, who supports a family of 16 members.

Posted by bhola at 04:51 PM | Comments (0)

Bhopal tragedy: Survivors seek justice

Monday, March 27, 2006 (New Delhi/New York):

Survivors of the Bhopal gas tragedy, which is the world's worst industrial disaster, arrived in the national capital seeking justice.

They began their 800-km walk from the Madhya Pradesh capital 35 days ago, with a six-point charter of demands for Prime Minister Manmohan Singh.

It's been over two decades and their most basic demand for clean drinking water has still not been met.

Contaminated water

Besides the 39 survivors of the 1984 Union Carbide disaster, many people who still have to drink the water contaminated by toxic waste from the abandoned carbide factory are also a part of the march.

They want Dow Chemicals that now owns Union Carbide, to clean up the contamination left behind and pay for the environmental damage caused.

And they have resolved not to return to Bhopal till they get justice.

"It's been 21 years and we are still waiting for clean water, for dignity. The Prime Minister must listen to our demands," said Rashida Bi, Bhopal gas tragedy survivor.

They are also demanding that Dow Chemicals be blacklisted in India.

"We want that Dow should own up. They must clean up the area. People are still drinking poisoned water," said Satinath Sarangi, Member, Group for Information and Action.

The protest march has stirred up outrage in the US as well, with support from American Congressmen who have issued a letter of protest to the Prime Minister.

The protestors plan to present Singh with their charter of demands by the end of this month.

Posted by bhola at 10:56 AM | Comments (0)

March 26, 2006

Bhopal padayatris arrive in Delhi; resolve to stay until justice is done

Bhopal Gas Peedit Mahila Stationery Karmachari Sangh
Bhopal Gas Peedit Mahila Purush Sangarsh Morcha
Bhopal Group for Information & Action
Bhopal ki Aawaaz

New Delhi. 25 March, 2006 - 46 padyatris from Bhopal, including 39 victims of Union Carbide's Poisons who traveled a distance of 800 km from Bhopal to Delhi arrived to a massive welcome by students and trade union representatives at Nizamuddin on Saturday afternoon. The march began from Union Carbide factory in Bhopal on February 20. The youngest marcher is 16 while the oldest participant is 90 years old.

The survivors are demanding justice and a life of dignity, and have resolved that they will not return to Bhopal this time without getting all their demands met. At least 10 Bhopalis have announced their readiness to go on an indefinite fast if the Prime Minister does not immediately address their demands.

Booklet of factsheets backing up the padyatris' demands, PDF format, 5.4mb

"The Indian Government has had more than 21 years of notice about our plight and our demands, this time round we are not returning from Delhi without having all our six demands fulfilled", said Rashida Bee, leader of Bhopal Gas Peedit Mahila Stationary Karmachari Sangh and 2004 Goldman Award recipient to the crowds that turned up in solidarity including CITU. AITUC, IFTU, AISA , JNU, Disabled Rights group and Jan Natya Manch.

Representatives of the four Bhopali organisations who coordinated the padyatra will present their 6-point charter of demands to the Prime Minister by month-end.

Their demands include: the setting up of a National Commission on Bhopal to oversee medical and social rehabilitation; supply of safe water to communities currently drinking poisoned water; speedy prosecution of the accused, including Union Carbide Corporation and its former chairman; environmental remediation; curbing Dow and Carbide's business in India; and memorialising the disaster by including it in school and college curricula and building a Bhopal Memorial in consultation with survivors.

"The hospitality of the villagers through out the march has been heartening, food, accommodation and water has been provided for by them. We hope the Indian government shows at least a fraction of the sensitivity that we have experienced during our 33 days long march." said Jagannath Das, a 90 year old padyatri.

The Bhopal padayatra has stirred up massive outrage from around the world. At least 2000 faxes, more emails and 10,000 signatures, have been sent to the Prime Minister's office, by Bhopal supporters worldwide, urging him to meet the Bhopalis and resolve their issues. On 23 March, 20 US congresspersons, led by Congressman Frank Pallone, issued a letter to the Indian Prime Minister in which Dow Chemical and Union Carbide have been condemned for their disregard for law. The letter also urges the Prime Minister to address the long-standing demands of the Bhopalis. On 24 March, NRIs and student activists from the US staged a demonstration outside the Indian embassy in Washington D.C. to expose the insensitivity of the Indian Government for having let the victims of the worst industrial disaster suffer for so long.

For more information:
Nityanand Jayaraman, +91 9811138987
c/o A1/125, 1st floor, Safdurjung Envclave, New Delhi. 110039 www.bhopal.net

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Bhopal march over, but the battle continues

FROM "THE AGE", AUSTRALIA

Clockwise from left: Bhopal survivor Champa Devi Shukla and other marchers take a break near Delhi; the face of a young child killed by the gas leak in 1984 - the photograph won Picture of the Year award; the derelict Union Carbide factory in 2006; a woman, her sight affected by the gas leak, awaits the results of a compensation trial against the Union Carbide Corporation of the US in 1987.

By Rajeshree Sisodia, New Delhi
March 27, 2006

THE JUSTICE MARCH for the survivors of the world's worst industrial disaster has been an arduous journey.

More than 21 years after a gas leak ravaged the central Indian city of Bhopal, killing thousands, scores of survivors entered Delhi at the weekend, the culmination of a month-long march to galvanise political support for their cause.

In the early hours of December 3, 1984, more than 40 tonnes of gases including methyl isocyanate, hydrogen cyanide and carbon monoxide leaked from the Union Carbide India Limited (UCIL) pesticide plant in Old Bhopal.

The lethal cocktail entered the heart of the community, killing more than 8000 people in the immediate aftermath and causing thousands more to endure agonising deaths in the years following.

This weekend, scores of people who live in the worst-affected areas in Old Bhopal drew their 787-kilometre march from Bhopal, through four Indian states and into Delhi, to a close as they snaked their way into the capital's southern suburbs. Today, the protesters plan to meet senior Government politicians, including Indian Prime Minister Dr Manmohan Singh, to gain political support for the decontamination of the factory site and surrounding areas.

Victims are also pushing for the Union Carbide Corporation (UCC), which owned UCIL, and the US-based Dow Chemical Company, which took control of UCC in 2001, to stand trial and accept responsibility for the tragedy and for the decontamination of the area.

More than two decades after the accident, which contaminated the water supply, communities in Old Bhopal still have little access to safe drinking water.

Justice is something that has continued to evade 53-year-old mother of four Champa Devi Shukla. Her son Rajesh committed suicide 16 years ago, at the age of 18, after experiencing years of chronic lung problems.

Her 58-year-old husband Badri Prasad Shukla died from bladder cancer nine years ago and her five-year-old granddaughter Sapna was born without a palate.

The deaths and congenital deformity were a direct result of the gas leak and exposure to contaminated drinking water, she believes.

"Rajesh could not cope with it," said the slight figure in an orange sari.

"(It was) as a result of the Union Carbide accident. It was heartbreaking for us. The light in our world left (when he died)."

Rasheeda Bee, 50, a mother of one, said six members of her extended family were diagnosed with cancer following the industrial disaster.

"Politicians mainly sit in their seats while people die. When they feel that they will lose their seats, they will do something," she said.

"That's what we intend to do, to shake them from their inertia, then they will help us, with the support of the world.

"We are not afraid of politicians. We have got nothing left to lose. It's time for battle, we have waited so long."

Collective apathy has characterised the Government's approach to the Bhopal disaster over the past two decades.

Despite increasing pressure from activists and social groups in and outside the subcontinent, India's politicians seem unwilling to listen to or help the thousands of victims.

UCC maintains that responsibility for decontamination now lies with the Madhya Pradesh state government, which took control of the pesticide plant in 1998, while Dow has reaffirmed its stance that because it only took control of UCC in 2001, it had no involvement in the leak.

The tragedy left barely a single home in Old Bhopal untouched. About 8000 people died in the hours immediately after the gas leak.

Campaigners claim that more than 7000 funeral shrouds were sold in the 24 hours afterwards and truck drivers spoke of dumping hundreds of victims in unmarked graves.

Mune Khan, now 60, lost his wife Khamida, 35, on the night. Now all that remains of his family are his sons Owais, 23, and 25-year-old Anwar. He said Owais suffered from tuberculosis as a direct result of the disaster.

The day his wife died in their one-room home is one Mr Khan will never forget.

"It was about 2am and I was sleeping. Then I started vomiting, I could not breathe and there were tears coming in my eyes. I could not see out of my eyes," he said.

"(Then) we realised there was a gas leak, as someone was shouting from outside to us to leave the house. We went outside running and we started panicking. I never saw my wife alive again."

Victims believe ongoing exposure to contaminated drinking water continues to poison their children.

In 2001, the Indian Council of Medical Research revealed that between 120,000 and 150,000 people in Bhopal still had symptoms related to gas exposure.

Independent research commissioned by environmental group Greenpeace found that ground water around the disused pesticide plant was unsafe. The 1999 findings showed the water contained high levels of the insecticide Sevin and mercury.

Water samples taken from wells near the factory also contained carbon tetrachloride, which the US Agency for Toxic Substances and Disease Registry says can damage the liver, kidneys and nervous system, and the US Environmental Protection Agency claims is a probable human carcinogen.

Posted by bhola at 04:48 PM | Comments (0)

Bhopal victims march for justice

FROM "THE HINDU"

'We will not return to Bhopal this time without getting all our demands met'

SEEKING JUSTICE: A woman holding a banner at a rally marking the end of an 800-km march by gas tragedy victims who reached Delhi from Bhopal on Saturday.

NEW DELHI: Student leaders from Jawaharlal Nehru University, trade unions members and representatives of various non-government organisations welcomed the 46 padayatris, including 39 victims of the Bhopal gas tragedy, who arrived at Nizamuddin here at the end of their 800-km-long march from Bhopal.

The march began from Bhopal on February 20 and saw the participation of 39 gas victims including 19 women and 20 men. The survivors are demanding justice and a life of dignity and have resolved that they will not return to Bhopal this time without getting all their demands met. Representatives of four Bhopal-based organisations who coordinated the "padyatra" are also hoping to present their six-point charter of demands to the Prime Minister by this month end.

Their demands include setting up of a national commission on Bhopal to oversee medical and social rehabilitation, supply of safe drinking water to communities now drinking contaminated water, speedy prosecution of the accused, including Union Carbide Corporation and its former chairman, environmental remediation and memorialising the disaster by including it in school and college curriculum and building a Bhopal memorial in consultation with survivors.

Speaking about the problems that the Bhopal gas tragedy victims have been living with one of the 'padyatris' who arrived here this afternoon, Champa Devi Shukla, said: "Our only regret now is the fact that we did not die that fateful night, instead we were left to die a little each day. Despite the huge tragedy, the government has been unable to even provide us with the most basic need of clean drinking water. We aren't demanding things that the government cannot give to its people, we are demanding basic amenities without which life for us has become a living hell."

"We have travelled a long way here and enroute, 13 'padyatris' had to visit the district hospital in Shivpuri and 11 had to return to Bhopal from Guna due to ill health. Besides the survivors of the 1984 Union Carbide disaster, several people from among the 20,000 people now forced to drink water poisoned by Union Carbide's toxic wastes are also part of the 'padyatra'," said Satinath Sarangi.

Meanwhile, the Bhopal 'padyatris' have stirred up massive outrage around the world and they claim that at least 2,000 faxes, emails and 10,000 signatures have been sent to the Prime Minister's office by their supporters worldwide, urging him to meet the people and resolve their issues.

Posted by bhola at 12:24 PM | Comments (0)

Bhopal gas leak survivors walk to Delhi to meet PM

Web posted at: 3/26/2006 7:21:6
Source ::: AFP

NEW DELHI: After walking for over a month through sometimes scorching heat, survivors of the deadly 1984 Bhopal gas leak arrived in the Indian capital yesterday demanding redress from India's leaders.

"It's been 21 years, it's been too long," said the some 40 men and women as they arrived at a park in central Delhi where other protesters greeted them with marigold garlands.

They had walked almost 800km from Bhopal, in central Madhya Pradesh state, starting on February 20.

The marchers demanded justice for the victims and survivors of the poisoning by 40 tonnes of lethal methyl isocyanate gas that seeped into Bhopal from a Union Carbide plant just before midnight on December 2, 1984.

More than 3,500 people died immediately from the gas leak, but the death toll has since climbed to more than 15,000, according to government figures.

Bhopal rights activists say the real toll is double that while Amnesty International estimated last year that between 22,000 and 25,000 people had died as a result of the tragedy.

Protesters are calling for better medical treatment, clean up of persisting pollution and the supply of uncontaminated piped water from a nearby dam to residents of neighborhoods surrounding the factory, shut since the leak.

The survivors have threatened a hunger strike if their demands fail to get a positive response from Prime Minister Manmohan Singh.

"We have received an assurance that the prime minister or Congress party leader Sonia Gandhi would meet with us between March 27 and 31," Nityanand Jayaraman, spokesman for the International Campaign for Justice in Bhopal, said.

Officials say about 800,000 people still suffer from various after-effects from inhaling the poisonous fumes. "Our lives have gone by but we want things to be better for future generations," said Shajadibi, 49, who lives near the plant.

"The water we drink is poisoned, chemicals have even been found in the breast milk of women who live there," said the survivor and activist, who goes by one name.

Protesters blame toxins in the groundwater for the illnesses, including cancers, that affect many who live around the plant.

Posted by bhola at 08:43 AM | Comments (0)

March 25, 2006

Bhopal gas victims to meet Premier

Qatar – Indo-Asian News Service
Published: Saturday, 25 March, 2006, 10:04 AM Doha Time

BHOPAL: Over 100 victims of the Bhopal gas disaster have threatened to sit on a hunger strike in New Delhi if Prime Minister Manmohan Singh does not heed their demands to provide relief to the survivors of the 1984 industrial tragedy.

The survivors, who set off on a 900km foot march from the now-defunct Union Carbide pesticide plant here to the Indian capital, are demanding the prime minister’s intervention in ensuring “justice and a life of dignity for themselves and their ilk”.

The survivors, slated to reach New Delhi Saturday, will submit their six-point charter of demands to Manmohan Singh.

“We expect to meet the prime minister any day between March 27 and March 31,” said Rachna Dhingra, of the Bhopal Group for Information & Action (BGIA), which is leading the march.

Speaking by phone from Faridabad, bordering Delhi, where they are taking out a rally in association with the local unit of the Hind Mazdoor Sabha (HMS), she said: “In case the prime minister fails to listen to us we will sit on an indefinite hunger strike.”

BGIA is an organisation of gas survivors. Three other similar bodies joining the march are: Bhopal Gas Peedit Mahila Stationery Karmachari Sangh (BGPMSKS), Bhopal Gas Peedit Mahila Purush Sangharsh Morcha (BGPMPSM) and Bhopal Ki Aawaaz (BKA).

The marchers include survivors up to 70 years age. There are also some teenagers who live in the localities and areas affected by ground water contamination caused by the leak of over 40tons of lethal methyl iso cyanate gas from the Union Carbide’s pesticide plant on the night of Dec 2-3, 1984. The leak, which killed an estimated 20,000 people and maimed several thousands for life, is described as one of the world’s worst industrial disasters.

According to the organisations, ground water samples collected near the Union Carbide plant have shown contamination levels 10 times higher than in other areas. High levels of heavy metals such as nickel, chromium, mercury, lead and other toxic materials have also been found in the soil.

Posted by bhola at 04:54 PM | Comments (0)

Protest threat

GULF NEWS

NEW DELHI: After walking for over a month through sometimes scorching heat, survivors of the deadly 1984 Bhopal gas leak arrived in the Indian capital yesterday demanding redress from India's leaders.

"It's been 21 years, it's been too long," said the some 40 men and women as they arrived at a park in central Delhi where other protesters greeted them with marigold garlands.

They had walked almost 800km from Bhopal, in central Madhya Pradesh state, starting on February 20.

The marchers demanded justice for the victims and survivors of the poisoning by 40 tonnes of lethal methyl isocyanate gas that seeped into Bhopal from a Union Carbide plant just before midnight on December 2, 1984.

Protesters are calling for better medical treatment, clean up of persisting pollution and the supply of uncontaminated piped water from a nearby dam to residents of neighbourhoods surrounding the factory, shut since the leak.

The survivors have threatened a hunger strike if their demands fail to get a positive response from Prime Minister Manmohan Singh.

"We have received an assurance that the prime minister or Congress party leader Sonia Gandhi would meet with us between March 27 and 31," Nityanand Jayaraman, spokesman for the International Campaign for Justice in Bhopal, said.

Posted by bhola at 04:52 PM | Comments (0)

Bhopal gas victims walk all the way to Delhi

Tribune News Service

New Delhi, March 25
As many as 39 survivors of the Bhopal gas leak tragedy today reached Delhi for a do-or-die battle after a 800-km trek from Bhopal that took them 33 days.

Stressing that justice still eludes victims of the Union Carbide chemical leak tragedy, the ‘padyatris’, several of them above 60 years of age, say they will start a fast unto death here next month till their six-point charter of demands is met by the government.

The demands include setting up of a national commission on Bhopal to oversee medical and social rehabilitation of the victims for the next 30 years, supply of safe drinking water to communities currently drinking poisoned water, speedy prosecution of the accused, including Union Carbide Corporation and its former chairman; environmental remediation, a ban on Dow Chemical and its subsidiary Union Carbide’s business in India and memorialising the disaster story by including it in school and college curriculum.

“It is sad that every government since the tragedy in 1984 has prioritised the interests of private companies instead of the people who have suffered. The killers are yet to be brought to justice,” said Rashida Bi, who heads the Bhopal Gas Peedit Mahila Stationary Karamchari Sangh. Rashida Bi has lost six members of her own family due to medical complications since that December night in 1984.

Toxic wastes are still polluting the water in the area threatening the lives of communities living there. The plant site was yet to be decontaminated.

Posted by bhola at 10:55 AM | Comments (0)

March 24, 2006

Bhopal gas victims to meet PM, demand a life of dignity

March 24, 2006

By Indo Asian News Service

Faridabad (Haryana), March 24 (IANS) Around 60 victims of the Bhopal gas tragedy, on a foot march to New Delhi to meet the prime minister, said Friday they were not in a 'mood to compromise' and wanted a life of dignity.

CNN interview Shehzadi and the other padyatris.

The victims of the 1984 industrial tragedy started their 800-km march from Bhopal to the Indian capital on Feb 20 and have crossed almost 775 km. They are to reach New Delhi Saturday.

'We have been suffering for the past 21 years. We have taken on the arduous task of reaching Delhi by foot and putting our demand in front of Prime Minister Manmohan Singh,' said Ram Kishan, a 60-year-old survivor.

'It's our final attempt to meet the prime minister and we are not in a mood to compromise. Give us employment, medical facility and a life of dignity,' Kishan told IANS.

The victims, including those born after the disaster, Friday held a rally here.

The marchers will be joined in New Delhi on Saturday by around 400 members of the families of survivors of the tragedy, which killed an estimated 20,000 people and maimed several thousands for life.

Rashida, who lost her husband in the leak of poisonous methyl iso cyanate gas from the Union Carbide plant on Dec 2-3, 1984, said: 'Those responsible for causing the contamination and suffering in Bhopal should ensure the clean up of the area.

'They are criminals and our government should ensure that Warren Anderson, the then chief executive officer of Union Carbide, and other officials are punished.'

Satinath Sarangi, a green activist who runs a clinic for the victims, said: 'Twenty one years is enough. The government, especially the prime minister, should look after the welfare of the people and give less attention to the multinationals. Our demand for clean water, health, livelihood and social security are fundamental rights, which need to be safeguarded.'

'People of Bhopal are determined to fight their cause and live a life of dignity,' said Sarangi.

Suroopa Mukherjee, of We for Bhopal, a group of professors and students working for the victims, said that in New Delhi the victims would put forth several demands before the prime minister and other political leaders.

The demands include, clean drinking water, cleaning up of the dumped toxic wastes that Union Carbide left behind, punishment for Warren Anderson and his colleagues, setting up of a national commission for the victims and declaring Dec 3 as a national remembrance day.

'Besides, there should be no business with Dow Chemicals, the company that took over Union Carbide in 2001, till it cleans up the site,' said Mukherjee, who teaches at Delhi's Hindu College.

'We are yet to get time from the prime minister, but have decided not to return to Bhopal before meeting him. He has to listen to our demand and stretch a hand of hope for people like us,' said Champa Devi, 53.

'We don't want another Bhopal to happen in India.'

Copyright Indo-Asian News Service

Posted by bhola at 06:46 PM | Comments (0)

Bhopal gas victims to meet Manmohan Singh

From NewKerala.com

Bhopal: Over 100 victims of the Bhopal gas disaster have threatened to sit on a hunger strike in New Delhi if Prime Minister Manmohan Singh does not heed their demands to provide relief to the survivors of the 1984 industrial tragedy.

The survivors, who set off on a 900-km foot march from the now-defunct Union Carbide pesticide plant here to the Indian capital, are demanding the prime minister's intervention in ensuring "justice and a life of dignity for themselves and their ilk".

The survivors, slated to reach New Delhi Saturday, will submit their six-point charter of demands to Manmohan Singh.

"We expect to meet the prime minister any day between March 27 and March 31," said Rachna Dhingra, of the Bhopal Group for Information & Action (BGIA), which is leading the march.

Speaking to IANS by phone from Faridabad, bordering Delhi, where they are taking out a rally in association with the local unit of the Hind Mazdoor Sabha (HMS), she said: "In case the prime minister fails to listen to us we will sit on an indefinite hunger strike."

BGIA is an organisation of gas survivors. Three other similar bodies joining the march are: Bhopal Gas Peedit Mahila Stationery Karmachari Sangh (BGPMSKS), Bhopal Gas Peedit Mahila Purush Sangharsh Morcha (BGPMPSM) and Bhopal Ki Aawaaz (BKA).

The marchers include survivors up to 70 years age. There are also some teenagers who live in the localities and areas affected by ground water contamination caused by the leak of over 40 tonnes of lethal methyl iso cyanate gas from the Union Carbide's pesticide plant on the night of Dec 2-3, 1984. The leak, which killed an estimated 20,000 people and maimed several thousands for life, is described as one of the world's worst industrial disasters.

According to the organisations, ground water samples collected near the Union Carbide plant have shown contamination levels 10 times higher than in other areas. High levels of heavy metals such as nickel, chromium, mercury, lead and other toxic materials have also been found in the soil.

"Mercury and lead contamination have found their way into the breast milk of those living in the gas-affected localities near the Carbide plant. Many pregnant women aborted while many had still born births," claimed Satinath Shadangi, BGIA president, citing studies.

"We are taking out this march to remind the prime minister that the condition of the people affected by the tragedy has not improved. They are still drinking poison. We want him to know that his intervention is required to provide relief to the people," he said.

He said the gas leak had led to "menstrual chaos amongst girls and women" with menopause coming to them at age 27 to 30.

"Our demands include immediate supply of safe water to the communities suffering from ground water contamination, speedy prosecution of Union Carbide Corporation and its officials and blacklisting of Dow Chemical (which bought Union Carbide in 2001) till it pays for environmental and health damages caused due to reckless dumping of hazardous wastes, besides setting up of a National Commission on Bhopal for long term medical care, research and economic and social rehabilitation of the victims," said Champa Devi Shukla, who leads BGPMSKS.

"The Bhopal disaster must be made part of educational curricula and a memorial to the disaster victims should be erected," said Rashida Bi.

Thousands of survivors, including those born after the disaster, are still battling the after effects of the deadly leak - from illnesses ranging from deep psychiatric disorders, stunted growth and severe gynaecological problems in the case of women.

Posted by bhola at 02:49 PM | Comments (0)

March 17, 2006

Rally to highlight plight of Bhopal gas victims

FROM THE HINDU

SOLID IN SUPPORT: A rally being taken out in support of the survivors of the Bhopal Gas Disaster, in Chennai on Thursday. — Photo: R. Ragu

CHENNAI: The International Campaign for Justice in Bhopal (ICJB) on Thursday took out a rally here in a bid to draw attention to the plight of the Bhopal gas victims.

Long march

Starting from the Munroe statue, the protesters, including women, walked till the State Guest House, holding placards blaming the "greed of multinational corporations" and "conniving Western Governments." They also highlighted the walk that the 130 survivors had undertaken from Bhopal to New Delhi. They began the walk on February 20.

Exerting pressure

"As the march heads towards New Delhi, various groups and supporters from all over the world are holding solidarity activities to highlight the plight of survivors and also bring pressure on the Indian Government to act," said the ICJB.

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March 13, 2006

Chemical plant security: safer technology can reduce risks

EDITORIAL FROM THE PHILADELPHIA INQUIRER

Refining fuel and manufacturing chemicals are risky businesses. They involve hazardous materials and high temperatures. An accident could produce a toxic cloud that endangers an entire neighborhood, as in the tragedy in Bhopal, India, in 1984.

That's why government requires emergency preparedness plans based on "worst-case" scenarios.

Since 9/11, the threat of terrorism also looms.

So why hasn't Congress acted to secure these plants, as it did with airports and nuclear plants? Repeated government and media reports have found security lacking at chemical plants. Even industry groups now admit that their voluntary measures aren't comprehensive.

New Jersey Gov. Jon Corzine championed the issue as senator, but it went nowhere. It found new momentum last summer with hearings guided by Sens. Susan Collins (R., Maine) and Joseph Lieberman (D., Conn.), but then stalled again. Collins' bill may come up again later this month.

The debate broke down, in part, over provisions for "inherently safer technology." Should the government require chemical plants and refineries to substitute safer technology if it's at all economically feasible?

Environmentalists and community activists say: Of course. But industry representatives worry that regulators lack technical expertise to make that decision and that their judgments will interfere with proprietary issues. They rightly fear trading one risk for another, such as storing dangerous chemicals on-site rather than transporting them long distances.

The answer lies in compromise, as in New Jersey's security standards, which require the 43 highest-risk plants to at least consider alternative technology and report it to the state Department of Environmental Protection. Most plants regularly review such options anyway.

In Philadelphia, Sunoco Inc. has set a good example by voluntarily committing to adopt a safer refining process by 2008 to protect its South Philadelphia neighbors. It will cost $61 million. Company officials said the new process, long sought by community residents and environmentalists, would reduce the potential drift of a "worst-case" toxic cloud from 25 miles to six.

Safer technology is one way to reduce the risk of both accidents and terrorist acts. It should be part of any security discussion.

Posted by bhola at 09:45 AM | Comments (0)

March 05, 2006

Gas disaster survivors on march to Delhi: they demand justice and a life of dignity

From The Hindu

NEW DELHI: Survivors of the December 1984 Union Carbide disaster in Bhopal are on a 787 km march on foot to New Delhi. They are demanding justice and a life of dignity for the people poisoned by American multinational Union Carbide Corporation. The march led by four Bhopal-based organisations will also include people affected by ground water contamination from Union Carbide's abandoned factory in Bhopal.

The marchers expect to reach New Delhi in the last week of March and have sought a meeting with Prime Minister Manmohan Singh.

Four organisations involved in the march — the Bhopal Gas Peedit Mahila Stationery Karmachari Sangh, Bhopal Gas Peedit Mahila Purush Sangharsh Morcha, Bhopal Group for Information and Action and Bhopal ki Aawaaz — plan to present their charter of demands to Dr. Singh. Those marching say that depending on the response of the Central Government they may decide to go on an indefinite fast at the end of their march.

The most urgent demand is supply of piped water from the Kolar reservoir to the 16 communities affected by toxic contamination of ground water. They are demanding that the Government set up a National Commission on Bhopal, with the participation of survivor organisations, to provide facilities for health care, economic rehabilitation, medical research and social support.

The survivors are demanding that the Central Government set up of a Special Prosecution cell within the Central Bureau of Investigation (CBI) with representatives from the Ministry of External Affairs to expedite prosecution of Union Carbide Corporation and its former chairman Warren Anderson and the others accused in the criminal case of the 1984 gas disaster.

They are demanding a scientific assessment of the depth and spread of toxic contamination in and around the Union Carbide factory in Bhopal.

They want Union Carbide's current owner Dow Chemicals to pay for the clean up of the contaminated areas, and to compensate for the health and environmental damage caused by reckless duping of chemical wastes.

They are also demanding a ban on the Government's purchase of Dow Chemical's products, including the toxic pesticide Dursban until it accepts pending liabilities in India.

The survivors have demanded that December 3 be declared a National Day of Mourning for victims of industrial disasters and pollution.

They want the Central Government to include the Bhopal Gas Disaster, and its aftermath, in school and college curricula.

Posted by bhola at 05:52 AM | Comments (0)

March 02, 2006

PM asked to urge Bush to facilitate Anderson's extradition

BHOPAL, MARCH 2, 2006 (PTI):
Organisations fighting for the cause of Bhopal gas tragedy victims have asked Prime Minister Manmohan Singh to urge visiting US President George W Bush, to facilitate extradition of Warren Anderson, a prime accused in the criminal case related to the disaster.

The Bhopal Gas Peedit Mahila Udyog Sangathan (BGPMUS) and the Bhopal Gas Peedit Sangharsh Sahayog Samiti (BGPSSS) have sent letter to the Prime Minister asking him to raise the issue of Anderson's extradition with Bush during his visit, Sangathan Convenor Abdul Jabbar, told PTI here.

Besides, over 10,000 gas victims have sent postcards to Singh seeking his support in preventing officials of Union Carbide Corporation (UCC) from escaping from liability of the heinous crime, as the impact of the Methyl Icocynate Gas leak from the Carbide plan here on the intervening night of December 2-3, 1984 was ten times greater than the 9/11 terrorist attack on the US, he claimed.

Anderson, then Chairman of UCC, is facing a non-bailable warrant of arrest issued against him in 1992 by a local court which also directed the Centre to seek his extradition from the US, Jabbar said.

Unfortunately, even after 14 years the Centre has failed to execute the warrant due to non-cooperation of US administration, he alleged.

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March 01, 2006

Al Jazeera plays up Muslim and communist opposition to Bush visit, but Hindus and others also strongly objected

FROM AL-JAZEERA ENGLISH SERVICE

Wednesday 01 March 2006, 22:23 Makka Time, 19:23 GMT

Tens of thousands of Indians have joined demonstrations across the country against the visit by US President George Bush.

Groups representing Muslims, communists and survivors of the Bhopal disaster in 1984 held protests hours before Bush's arrival in New Delhi on Wednesday.

Bush's three-day visit to the world's largest democracy, which is also Asia's third-largest economy, has raised expectations in India as it sheds its socialist baggage and turns to the West to help it become a regional power.

But it has also drawn the ire of leftist and Muslim groups who staged large protests in several cities across the country against Bush's policies.

Bush landed at Indira Gandhi international airport early evening after flying in from a surprise visit to Afghanistan.

Earlier about 100,000 Muslim men, many of them wearing prayer caps, had gathered in the heart of the Indian capital shouting anti-Bush slogans.

"Go back, Bush", "Bush is a killer", "Bully Bush, buzz off", "Bush, stop the ambush", they shouted as hundreds of policemen in riot gear kept watch.

"The people of the country do not want this killer of innocent men, women and children to come here," one protester said.

Many Indian Muslims made it clear Bush was not welcome in India.

Munne Bhai, a Hindu, and one of the Bhopali padyatris, listens grimly to the news reports about Bush's visit to India

In the eastern city of Kolkata, a leftist stronghold, about 25,000 communist supporters converged on the city centre to take part in a public meeting organised by the "Committee Against Bush Visit".

In a statement, the committee said: "Under President Bush, the US continues to occupy Iraq and oppress its people. It threatens Syria and has targeted Iran on the issue of its nuclear programme.

"The Indian government is shamefully succumbing to US imperialist pressures."

Elsewhere, about 200 student communist activists burnt a straw effigy of Bush in the southern IT hub of Bangalore.

Bhopal protest

In the city of Bhopal meanwhile survivors of the 1984 gas tragedy also marched on Wednesday, shouting "Killer of Bhopal, Hiroshima, Iraq, Afghans, go back".

About 100 marchers demanded justice for the victims of 40 tonnes of lethal methyl isocyanate gas that seeped into Bhopal from a Union Carbide plant just before midnight on 2 December, 1984.

More than 3500 people died immediately from the gas leak, but the toll has since climbed to more than 15,000, according to government figures. (8,000 and more than 20,000 according to survivors' groups).

Bhopal rights activists say the real toll is double that while Amnesty International estimated last year that between 22,000 and 25,000 people had died as a result of the tragedy.

Nuclear deal

Washington and New Delhi hope Bush and Manmohan Singh, the Indian prime minister, will clinch a landmark civilian nuclear co-operation deal, seen as the centrepiece of the visit, at their talks on Thursday.

The deal, agreed in principle last July when Singh visited Washington, has run into trouble over differences on nuclear-armed India's plan to separate its military and civilian atomic plants to prevent proliferation, a key requirement.

However, both sides have tried to play down expectations even as they continue to discuss the number of reactors India will declare as civilian and open them up for international inspections.

Ahead of the president's arrival, Singh said in an interview to a US television channel, that clinching the deal during the visit would be "a great contribution of President Bush to ending India's isolation from the world nuclear order."

India has refused to join the Nuclear Non-Proliferation Treaty calling it discriminatory, leading to its isolation.

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Bhopal Gas victims protest against Bush visit

While survivors' organisations protest in Bhopal against Bush's visit to India, the padyatris (see "March to Delhi blog") keep abreast of the news via radio. Here Munne Bhai listens with a frown of evident disapproval.

BHOPAL, 1 MARCH 2006

By S Sanjay, sify.com

Bhopal Gas victims here in this central Indian town staged a demonstration Wednesday afternoon protesting against the upcoming visit of United States President George W Bush.

The protesters are demanding the speedy extradition of Warren Anderson, the former Union Carbide Chairman whom they hold responsible for the World's worst man-made industrial disaster that occurred when tones of toxic methyl isocyanate and other poisonous gases leaked from Carbide's pesticide plant on December 2 and 3, 1984, killing 3,500 people instantly (survivors organisations claim at least 8,000) and maiming several others for life (120,000 are still chronically ill in the city, 21 years after the gas).

Chanting slogans like George Bush hatyara hai (George Bush is a killer) and Bush haiwan, kiska mehmaan (Whose guest is Bush the dragon?), the protestors lead by Sadhna Karnik Pradhan of the Bhopal Gas Peedit Sangharsh Sehayog Samiti were demanding that Anderson be brought to India and tried in the Bhopal court.

"More than two decades have passed since the massacre occurred but our government is unable to demand the extradition of Anderson responsible for the tragedy", Ms. Karnik said, adding, "This when thousands of gas victims are still battling deadly diseases.

"Several immediate victims and some even from a generation born after the disaster-still suffer from deep psychiatric disorders and stunted growth while thousands of women have severe gynaecological problems", she claimed.

Two days ago another victims organisation, the Bhopal Gas Peedit Mahila Udhyog Sangathan, lead by its convenor, Abdul Jabbar, had lodged a similar protest outside the now defunct Union Carbide pesticide plant.

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