JEENE KA HAQ

'RIGHT TO LIVE' CAMPAIGN

BHOPAL POSTER EXHIBITION ▪ NEW DELHI ▪ 01.03.2007

 

DEMANDS OF THE MADHYA PRADESH GOVERNMENT

 

1. PROPER HEALTH CARE

2. ECONOMIC REHABILITATION

3. SOCIAL SUPPORT

4. CLEAN WATER SUPPLY,

    TOXIC WASTE CONTAINMENT

5. RESPONSIVE ADMINISTRATION

 

1. PROGESSIVE HEALTH CARE

MORE THAN 100,000 SURVIVORS of the gas leak are still suffering from chronic, severe and disabling illnesses related to gas exposure. Hospitals were built to serve the health needs of survivors, but these hospitals are failing to meet basic concerns. There is a serious shortage of trained medical staff. Medical equipment is in poor condition, if it is available at all. The Supreme Court has ordered all diagnostic equipment be repaired and all staff vacancies filled, though hospitals have had difficulty hiring well-qualified professionals. Work contracts are temporary and offer no chance for promotion. Hospital records are frequently missing, which means that crucial information about a patient's disease and prescription history is lost.

85% of drugs prescribed at gas relief hospitals were found to be either harmful or useless to patients. Budgets for effective alternative medicines are a fraction of the budgets for Allopathic medicine - Three percent in one case. Health care services have further deteriorated in the last year because of new rules allowing non-gas affected patients to receive treatment in gas relief hospitals at low cost. There is conclusive evidence that groundwater near the factory is contaminated by chemicals causing serious and potentially lethal illness. Despite this, no free health care is available to those affected by groundwater contamination.

2. ECONOMIC REHABILITATION

AN ESTIMATE 50,000 SURVIVORS need gainful employment. Only 100 survivors have found viable work through the current government schemes. An October 2006 survey of gas-affected workers in one community indicates their current average wage is barely above Rs. 2000/- per month.  Employment opportunities must include production of items that meet our criteria—pollution masks and detergent-free soaps, for example, which are beneficial and affordable to the community. Despite Rs. 70 crores of government money poured into employment schemes and training programs, capable gas victims looking for work have not made progress in finding job opportunities.  

 

3. SOCIAL SUPPORT

Gas-affected families living below the poverty line, destitute individuals above the age of 60, and families with children having disaster-related congenital malformations are among the survivors requiring social services. Providing Rs. 1000/- per month would be greatly beneficial to survivors in need. Up to this point, the government’s meager attempts at social support include the construction of 2,500 homes that incurred sewage problems blamed for the 1998 deaths of eight survivors, and a pittance of social security. Rs. 150/- per month is distributed to senior citizens, widows and orphans. Additionally, the social condition of groups needing assistance is not monitored by the government, and subsequently no official records about their condition exist.

4. CLEAN WATER SUPPLY, TOXIC WASTE CONTAINMENT

Contaminants continue to spread across the area’s water supply, traveling almost one kilometer per year. That means the number of people drinking contaminated water will continue to grow until the problem is properly addressed. Water tanks brought into the community in September 2006 only fulfilled 12% of the order for clean water issued by the Supreme Court. Further, the process of decontaminating the community goes beyond clean water. The presence of toxic chemicals—carbaryl and other pesticides, the cancer-causing agent, chromium, other heavy metals and more—has been confirmed inside the factory, in the groundwater, in ground soil within the surrounding communities, and in the breast milk of women living close to the factory. Hazardous chemicals in the factory’s warehouses must be exported to a country with equipment for proper disposal, at the cost of Union Carbide/Dow Chemical as per the international ‘Polluter Pays’ principle.

5. RESPONSIVE ADMINISTRATION

A 2004 Supreme Court directive sanctioned the creation of an independent body, now known as the Coordination Committee for Bhopal (CCB), to manage the social, economic and medical rehabilitation programs undertaken by the Government of India and the Government of Madhya Pradesh. The longstanding pattern of mismanaged resources, empty promises and short-term projects at both the state and national level must be replaced.  The government must meet the needs of Bhopal survivors. This begins with the development of a 30-year plan that ensures the availability of funds for the rehabilitation and relief of the people poisoned by Union Carbide.