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January 31, 2006

Bhopal survivors to march on Delhi

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

January 31, 2006
PRESS STATEMENT

150 survivors of the December ’84 Union Carbide disaster in Bhopal will march on foot to New Delhi from February 20, 2006 demanding justice and a life of dignity for the people poisoned by American multinational Union Carbide Corporation. The march led by four Bhopal based organizations will also include people affected by ground water contamination from Union Carbide’s abandoned factory in Bhopal.

The Bhopal marchers expect to reach New Delhi in the last week of March when they have sought a meeting with the Prime Minister. Depending on the response of the central government the marchers may decide to go on an indefinite fast at the end of their 900 kilometer long march. The four organizations : Bhopal Gas Peedit Mahila Stationery Karmachari Sangh, Bhopal Gas Peedit Mahila Purush Sangharsh Morcha, Bhopal Group for Information and Action and Bhopal ki Aawaaz have a six-point charter of demands to present to the Prime Minister.

The first demand of the marchers is that of setting up of a National Commission on Bhopal with the necessary authority and funds to provide facilities for health care, economic rehabilitation, medical research and social support. They are calling for active participation of non-government doctors and scientists and representatives of survivors’ organization in the National Commission that they say should function for at least the next thirty years. The most urgent demand in their 6- point charter is the supply of piped water from Kolar reservoir in the 16 communities affected by toxic contamination of ground water.

In their meeting with the Prime Minister the marchers will demand the setting up of a Special Cell in the Central Investigation Bureau for speedy prosecution of Union Carbide Corporation, Warren Anderson and other absconding accused in the criminal case on the December ’84 disaster. They will also call upon the central government to ensure scientific assessment of the depth and spread of toxic contamination and make Union Carbide’s current owner The Dow Chemical Company pay compensation for the health and environmental damage caused due to reckless dumping of chemical wastes.

The Bhopal campaigners are demanding that the government stop purchasing Dow Chemical’s Dursban brand insecticide and other products till it accepts the pending liabilities of Bhopal. The survivors are also marching to demand that the central government declare December 3rd as a National Day of Mourning for victims of industrial disasters and include the disaster in educational curricula. .

New Delhi based supporters of the Bhopal survivors will convey the demands of the marchers to the Central government on a daily basis. Nationwide supporters of the Bhopal campaign will organize rallies, meetings and signature campaigns in solidarity with the Delhi Padyatra. International supporters in USA, Europe, Japan and other countries will take part in fax actions and demonstrations before Indian embassies abroad.

The route for the Delhi Padyatra has been chalked out with a view to making connections with other pollution impacted communities along the way. The marchers will organize poster exhibitions, film screenings and public meetings to make people aware of the need for justice in Bhopal for prevention of corporate crime everywhere.


Champa Devi Shukla
Bhopal Gas Peedit Mahila Stationery Karmachari Sangh
+91 755 93031 32959

Syed M Irfan,
Bhopal Gas Peedit Mahila Purush Sangharsh Morcha
+91 755 93290 26319

Shahid Noor
Bhopal ki Aawaaz
+91 755 98261 82226

Satinath Sarangi, Rachna Dhingra,
Bhopal Group for Information and Action
+91 755 98261 67369

Contact :
House No. 12, Gali No. 2, Near Naseer Masjid, Bag Umrao Dulha, Bhopal 462 010

For the latest information on the Bhopal disaster please continue to visit www.bhopal.net

Posted by bhola at 12:39 PM | Comments (0)

January 12, 2006

Judge Keenan finds for Bhopalis

The only picture we can find of Judge Keenan

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

January 12, 2006
Press Statement

Organizations of survivors today celebrated a favourable decision from Judge John F Keenan of the District Court in New York for the first time in the history of the case regarding the Union Carbide disaster in Bhopal. On January 10, 2006, Judge Keenan issued a letter rogatory for obtaining documents from Eveready Industries India Limited [EIIL] that could potentially establish the nexus between this Indian company and Union Carbide, USA and Dow Chemical USA. The organizations congratulated their attorney Mr. Himanshu Rajan Sharma who has been fighting for the survivors in the US courts since 1999 when the legal action was initiated.

In his decision Judge Keenan has agreed to seek judicial assistance from the Indian government to compel EIIL to produce documents related to its corporate structure and affiliations and liabilities concerning environmental contamination caused by the Bhopal factory. The Judge has requested that plaintiff’s attorney Mr. Sharma be notified regarding examination of documents before the appropriate courts in India. The letter rogatory issued by Judge Keenan will be transmitted to U.S. State Department and then to India for “discovery proceedings” against EIIL.

While there is no Indian legislation that can compel private companies to disclose their internal documents, American law provides for ‘discovery proceedings’ wherein a corporation is legally bound to reveal these documents to the plaintiffs. Survivors’ organizations expect this decision to have significant consequences as regards payment of compensation for contamination of soil and ground water and consequent health damages among people living next to Union Carbide’s abandoned pesticide factory.

Two appeals on behalf of people affected by soil and ground water contamination from Bhopal are currently pending before the Second Circuit Court of Appeals, which has decided in favor of the Bhopal victims on two earlier occasions. If successful, the legal action in the US Federal Court will force Union Carbide to pay further compensation far greater than the settlement amount of 470 million dollars it paid in 1989.

Champa Devi Shukla
Bhopal Gas Peedit Mahila Stationery Karmachari Sangh
93031 32959
Syed M Irfan,
Bhopal Gas Peedit Mahila Purush Sangharsh Morcha
93290 26319
Shahid Noor
Bhopal ki Aawaaz

98261 82226
Satinath Sarangi, Rachna Dhingra,
Bhopal Group for Information and Action
98261 67369
[] Contact :
House No. 12, Gali No. 2, Near Naseer Masjid, Bag Umrao Dulha, Bhopal 462 010
For latest information on Bhopal disaster please visit www.bhopal.net

Posted by bhola at 02:24 PM | Comments (0)

January 11, 2006

Activist/Author Diane Wilson Serving 150-Day Jail Sentence for Misdemeanor

Diane Wilson, activist and author of An Unreasonable Woman, is serving 150 days in a Texas jail for a misdemeanor trespassing charge. The charge stems from a political action at a Dow Chemical facility in her hometown of Seadrift, TX, in 2002, when Wilson climbed a tower at the plant and hung a banner reading “Justice For Bhopal,” in reference to the thousands of Indians killed following a toxic release of methyl isocyanate in 1984 by Dow subsidiary Union Carbide.

Wilson is a longtime advocate for the victims of the Bhopal disaster, who continue to seek justice for the deaths of their loved ones. Wilson has been trying to meet with Warren Anderson, the ex-CEO of Union Carbide, to demand he return to India to face outstanding criminal charges for culpable homicide in the Bhopal toxic release. She had avoided serving time for her misdemeanor, demanding that Anderson face up to his more serious charges before turning herself in. Though India has filed with the U.S. government for Anderson’s extradition, he remains at large.

Wilson was touring the country promoting her book when she was told she must report to serve her five-month sentence immediately. She remained outside of Texas for several weeks trying to meet with Anderson and avoiding arrest. She returned December 5th to infiltrate a fundraiser in Houston for recently-indicted U.S. Rep. Tom Delay attended by Vice President Dick Cheney. While protestors outside waved placards opposing the Iraq War, Wilson purchased a ticket, entered, and unfurled a banner reading “Corporate Greed Kills—From Bhopal to Baghdad” as Vice President Cheney was speaking. Wilson was removed from the event and arrested.

Supporters of Delay had been asked to pay as much as $4,200 to rub elbows with the alleged money launderer. Wilson got her ticket for $50. “I guess they needed people inside,” Wilson told the Houston Chronicle. “You can get in pretty cheap.” Although local activist groups posted Wilson’s $1,500 bail in Harris County, she was held in custody for 4 nights and 5 days before being transferred to Victoria County jail. (Her trespassing conviction is in Calhoun County, but the county jail has been condemned.)

Wilson, mother of five, former shrimp boat captain, and a co-founder of Code Pink: Women for Peace, has been an activist since 1989, staging actions and hunger strikes from Washington to Austin. Her environmental work on behalf of the people and bays of the Texas Gulf Coast has won her many awards including: Mother Jones Hellraiser of the Month, the National Fisherman Highliner Award, and the Bioneers Award.

In September, Wilson published her first book, An Unreasonable Woman: A True Story of Shrimpers, Politicos, Polluters and the Fight for Seadrift, Texas (Chelsea Green Publishing). In it she details her discovery that local chemical companies have made her county one of the most polluted in the country, and her transformation from mother and wife to environmental activist. She soon finds herself in a fight against Formosa Plastics, a multi-billion-dollar corporation that has been covering up toxic spills, silencing workers, flouting the EPA, and dumping lethal ethylene dichloride and vinyl chloride into the bays along her beloved Texas Gulf Coast.

For updates on Wilson, please visit www.chelseagreen.com/2005/items/unreasonablewoman/fromjail.

Posted by Shevardnadze at 01:54 AM | Comments (0)