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March 03, 2007

Survivors' Die-in draws attention to the on-going suffering and deaths caused by the MP Government's indifference to their demands

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

March 3, 2007

Press Statement

Over 100 survivors of the December 1984 Union Carbide disaster in
Bhopal staged a die-in in front of the residence of Chief Minister
Shivraj Singh Chouhan to draw his attention to the ongoing dharna by
four survivors' organizations demanding health care and rehabilitation from the state government.

The survivors, most of them women, lay on the road right opposite the
entrance to the Chief Minister's residence covering themselves with
white sheets. Rashida Bee, leader of one of the organisations, said
that the Madhya Pradesh government's criminal indifference towards the plight of the people poisoned by Union Carbide was prolonging the
suffering of the victims and causing untimely deaths. She hoped that
the die-in would serve as a stark reminder to the Chief Minister
regarding the state government's duties towards victims of American
multinational Union Carbide.

Syed M Irfan, President of the Bhopal Gas Peedit Mahila Purush
Sangharsh Morcha said that the state government was ignoring the
decisions of the Coordination Committee on Bhopal set up by the Prime
Minister last year for relief and rehabilitation of Bhopal victims. He said that the state government was also guilty of not following the directions of the Supreme Court regarding supply of safe water to the communities next to the abandoned Union Carbide factory that are
affected by ground water contamination.

The organizations also announced a "Black Holi" tomorrow as a mark of
condemnation of the state government's apathy. They have urged
survivors of the disaster to play Holi with black colour keeping in
mind that a group of survivors and their supporters will begin their
indefinite fast from March 5. Rashida Bee who has lost six family
members to cancer and is herself undergoing treatment for exposure
related illnesses said that she and her fellow activists were prepared to die to assert the right to life of the victims of Union Carbide.


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

Shahid Noor
Bhopal ki Aawaaz
98261 82226

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

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

Please visit www.bhopal.net for more information on the campaign for
justice in Bhopal

Posted by jennifer at 11:02 AM | Comments (0)