« June 2007 | Main | August 2007 »

July 18, 2007

Bhopal lays massive siege to Carbide's death factory - "only Dow can do!"

Bhopal Gas Peedit Mahila Stationery Karmachari Sangh
Bhopal Gas Peedit Mahila Purush Sangharsh Morcha
Bhopal Group for Information and Action

Bhopal, July 18, 2007

PRESS STATEMENT

Bhopalis rage against Indian government collusion with Dow

Thousands of residents of the neighbourhood communities today afternoon laid siege around the abandoned Union Carbide factory in Bhopal that is the source of contamination of the local ground water and soil. They demanded that the owner of Union Carbide, American multinational Dow Chemical, must pay for the environmental and health damages caused due to reckless dumping of hazardous chemical wastes.

SEE MORE PICTURES FROM TODAY'S ACTION HERE

The protestors opposed the Madhya Pradesh government's plans to send a small part of the hazardous waste for incineration at Ankleshwar, Gujarat and to Pithampur near Indore for disposal in a landfill. They said that waste disposal in this manner would cause environmental pollution and health damage to local residents in both these places. They demanded that the Government of India must make Dow Chemical carry the Bhopal toxic waste to USA for final disposal in the same manner as Unilever was made to carry mercury waste from its factory in Kodaikanal in 2003. They said that in addition to fact that it was legally liable, Dow Chemical with an annual sales of 49 billion dollar in 175 countries was best placed in terms of access to financial and technological resources to deal with the Bhopal hazardous waste problem.

A human chain encompassed the perimeter wall of Carbide's rotting factory today, signalling Bhopal's determination to stand in the way of government attempts to let Dow off the hook

The residents pointed out that the current rains were bringing in
contaminated water in to their communities from the factory and the state government had done nothing to stop the toxic flood. They said that the 386 tonnes of waste that the government wished to dispose off through incineration was less than 5 % of the toxic waste that requires safe disposal.

The leaders of the three organizations who led the agitation by local
residents said that they had documents from the Prime Minister's office that show that the government was working on a secret deal with Dow Chemical on the matter of its liabilities in Bhopal. They pointed out that Dow Chemical was fined 325, 000 $s by the United States Securities and Exchange Commission in February 2007 for paying bribes of 200,000 US dollars to officials in India from 1996 to 2001. "Dow Chemical paid thousands of dollars in bribe to get its pesticides approved for the Indian market," said Rashida Bee, one of the leaders, "We wonder how much the company is paying to buy up the Indian government on the issue of legal liabilities of the company."

The leaders said that in 1989 the Indian government had entered in to
collusive settlement with Union Carbide that was condemned as a betrayal by the entire country. They said that documents from the Prime Minister's Office regarding the proposed deal with Dow Chemical shows that the UPA government was willing and ready to once again betray the interests of the victims of Bhopal.

Rashida Bi, Champa Devi Shukla
Bhopal Gas Peedit Mahila Stationery Karmachari Sangh
94256 88215

Syed M Irfan,
Bhopal Gas Peedit Mahila Purush Sangharsh Morcha
93290 26319

Satinath Sarangi, Rachna Dhingra
Bhopal Group for Information and Action
98261 67369

*Contact: House No. 60, Near Cold Storage, Union Carbide Road, Chhola,Bhopal

Posted by tim at 01:46 PM | Comments (0)

July 05, 2007

Survivors turn up heat on Kamal Nath

Newspost, Wednesday 04th of July 2007

Bhopal gas victims Wednesday burnt the effigy of Union Commerce Minister Kamal Nath here, terming him a 'traitor' for his alleged remarks that the investments of Dow Chemicals, that took over Union Carbide, would not be affected in India due to the 1984 tragedy.

'The minister (Nath) and the government were making a concerted move for an out of court settlement to clear the US firm, which owns Union Carbide, of all responsibility of paying damages to the thousands of gas leak victims,' the activists claimed after burning the effigy at the busy Nadra bus stand area here.

'As 100 percent owner of Union Carbide, Dow Chemicals is liable for the clean up of toxic contamination of the soil and groundwater in and around the abandoned factory in Bhopal,' said Satinath Sarangi, from the Bhopal Group of Information and Action (BGIA) that is fighting for the survivors' rights.

'Dow Chemicals is also liable for the health damages, including congenital malformations, caused to the 25,000 people living near the Carbide factory who have been drinking water laced with toxic chemicals and heavy metals for the last 15 years or more,' he said.

The deadly gas leak from the Union Carbide pesticide factory in Bhopal on Dec 3, 1984, killed more than 20,000 people. An estimated 150,000 people continue to suffer from the toxic effects of the gas, including diminished vision, cancer, respiratory, neurological and gynaecological disorders.

Second generation victims are suffering from growth defects and women from severe menstrual disorders.

However, Dow, which took over Union Carbide in 2001, has rejected the contention that it has inherited Union Carbide's Bhopal liabilities.

Kamal Nath said in Washington last Thursday that Dow Chemicals' investments in India would not be affected as a result of the Bhopal gas tragedy even though the government would like to see the court processes on the matter resolved.

'The tragedy was at Union Carbide, and Dow by integration inherited (it). Dow themselves had no status in this,' Kamal Nath had reportedly said referring to the tragedy.

However, activists say Dow's liability flows from the 'polluter pays' principle, which is the law of the land both in India and the US.

They maintain the factory site has never been properly cleaned up and the abandoned chemical wastes continue to poison over 10,000 people living in the vicinity.

The gas victims have been demanding Dow to provide medical rehabilitation and economic reparation, clean up contamination in and around the factory site and ensure that Union Carbide Corporation appears before the Chief Judicial Magistrate's court in Bhopal, where it faces criminal charges of manslaughter.

The Bhopal Gas Peedit Mahila Stationery Karmachari Sangh (BGPMSKS), the Bhopal Gas Peedit Mahila Purush Sangharsh Morcha (BGPMPSM) and the Bhopal Group for Information and Action (BGIA) who held the protests said that Kamal Nath, elected from Madhya Pradesh, had brought shame to the state by being a 'traitor' to the gas tragedy victims.

The protesters also waved copies of a note the minister had supposedly written to the prime minister suggesting that the central government should deal with Dow Chemicals on the issue of hazardous waste in and around the factory in Bhopal in a similar manner as it did with Enron which was allowed to leave India without paying its outstanding debts to the Maharashtra government.

Posted by tim at 12:50 AM | Comments (0)