CHENNAI: A group of children from Bhopal, suffering from disablities caused gas leak from Union Carbide in 1984, have appealed to a private trust here to disassociate itself from Dow Chemicals, which now owns the firm.

Adinath Jain Trust is holding a five-day camp to distribute Jaipur foots, prosthetic limbs, crutches and walkers free of cost to disabled people across the State.

The camp is sponsored by Dow, as part of its corporate social responsibiity initiative, on behalf of Bhagwan Mahaveer Viklang Sahayata Samiti, a Jaipur-based NGO.

On Tuesday, the Bhopal children, accompanied by local kids, met Mohan Jain, hononary secretary of the trust, at the camp.

A scene ensued when Jain insisted on deletion of pictures taken by the photographer of this newspaper of the Bhopal children meeting him. (He perhaps did not notice a volunteer who was with the children and shot photographs - which we carry here - on the sly). Jain also said he did not want any mention of the incident in the newspaper.

The children, alternately arguing and appealing, submitted a letter and showed Jain a scrapbook of photographs of survivors who 24 years after the tragedy were still suffering from the aftermath of the disaster.

“We appeal to you not associate with a company that has still not provided justice to the thousands affected in Bhopal,” said Meera Morey, a 28-year-old whose father died after battling years of illness following the gas leak.

Jain asked for government reports and medical studies supporting their claim. Shwetha Narayan of International Campaign for Justice in Bhopal promised to provide him with both.

Eight-year-old Suraj is less than three feet tall. He cannot walk or eat on his own and is mentally challenged as well. His mother has brought him here to consult Vidya Sagar, an NGO that works with physically challenged children.

Meera’s seven siblings suffer from debilitating lung disease and other illnesses. Her father was working as a road worker in front of the company when the gas leak occurred.

Jain said that if the reports were convincing, he would stop his association with Dow Chemicals. “This is the first time we have collaborated with them,” he said.

Pune, October 05 chunk by chunk: Everyone’s eye on Warkaris; Christian and Muslim votes too targeted

With Lok Sabha and Assembly elections getting closer, political parties have identified the communities whose votes they will target and set about wooing them.

Everyone has expressed solidarity with the Warkaris, who are in millions, spread across the state and have launched an agitation no one can afford to ignore. The NCP is also wooing Muslims while the Congress has expressed solidarity with oppressed Christians.

The Warkaris are waging a battle against the proposed Dow Chemicals research centre at Shinde village near Chakan. The Shiv Sena was the first to support their demand, with party leader Ramdas Kadam announcing that his party would not allow the Dow unit to come up. The BJP followed it up with party state secretary Vinod Tawade calling on arrested Warkari leader Bandatatya Karadkar in Yerawada jail and conveying his party’s support for the agitation.

NCP chief Sharad Pawar had criticised the Warkaris, but then Guardian Minister Ajit Pawar too announced that NCP would not allow the Dow unit to come up. Deputy Chief Minister R R Patil also announced withdrawal of cases filed against the protesting Warkaris.
The NCP’s Pune chief Jaideo Gaikwad sees the Shiv Sena and the BJP support as a political gimmick but says the NCP had no political motive in supporting the Warkaris.

But a Congress leader was frank enough to admit: “It’s obvious that no political party can go against Warkaris, who are in millions.” He added that his party too was trying to calm down the situation with Chief Minister Vilasrao Deshmukh saying there was a misunderstanding among Warkaris about the Dow project.

Parties also hosted a number of iftar parties, with the NCP taking the lead in the city. Pawar attended one such iftar, organised by a local leader in Rasta Peth. City NCP executive president Anil Bhosale too organised an iftar at Sakhar Sankul in Shivajinagar.

Local NCP leaders brushed aside suggestions that the iftars were to woo Muslim voters. Gaikwad said the objective was to reach out to the Muslim community that is feeling alienated in the current atmosphere.

Another NCP leader said: “We are a secular party and have been organising various programmes for all communities. It is not true these are meant to woo voters.”

If the NCP is holding iftars, the Congress had taken to the streets recently in support of the Christian community. City Congress chief Abhay Chhajed was the first to extend his party’s support for the Catholic Association of Poona that held a dharna recently in protest against attacks on churches and Christians in several other states.

Although the leaders deny their support for any community had anything to do with the elections, political observers see it differently. They say the race to reach out to as many communities as possible will only increase in the coming days. In the current scenario, no party can afford to neglect any community. They have to reach out to all, they said, adding that delimitation had also somewhat changed equations in the constituencies and political parties could no longer be too sure about their previous strongholds....

Oct. 2, 2008 -- A unit of Dow Chemical said on Oct. 1 it had suspended construction of a research center in western India after villagers complained it would pollute an area they hold sacred. The Indian unit of Dow said "all work had temporarily halted" at the Chakan site near Pune, 160 kilometers (100 miles) northeast of Mumbai. The move follows objections by the Warkaris religious sect, who are followers of Hindu saints. They say the $100 million facility would pollute rivers they hold sacred.

"Construction at the site is halted. We have complied with the (Maharashtra state) government notice," a Dow India official said. Maharashtra chief minister Vilasrao Deshmukh last week ordered a month's halt to construction of the center, which had been due to open this year.

Dow India said it is setting up the research and development center in Chakan to work on water purification and energy efficiency that will employ 500 scientists. It has repeatedly said it plans no manufacturing at the site.

Media reports say the opponents of the Dow facility have joined those demanding the U.S. multinational take responsibility for the chemical waste dumped by Union Carbide in 1984. For many Indians, Dow is linked with the 1984 Bhopal disaster when a Union Carbide India plant spewed cyanide gas into the air, killing more than 3,500 slum dwellers. Dow acquired Union Carbide in 1999. Activists accuse Dow of shirking responsibility for the Bhopal gas leak disaster as thousands continue to suffer from the after-effects.

Dow says it took over Union Carbide years after the disaster and no court has ordered the company to clear up the contaminated site. It insists it is up to the Indian government to settle the Bhopal issue.

Copyright Agence France-Presse, 2008

Mumbai: Chief minister Vilasrao Deshmukh has ordered the Dow Chemical project at Shinde Vasuli, near Chakan, about 25 km from Pune, to stop work for a month, following intesified agitation against the project by local people.

The chief minister, who is currently on a European tour, took the decision keeping in mind the demand by followers of the Warkari sect and environmental activists to abandon the project, which, they claim, would pollute a nearby river and the entire area around the project.

The state government has also decided to appoint a committee headed by a former high court judge to study the objections to the project. The panel is expected to submit a report within a month.

Dow Chemicals and the government authorities say the company is setting up an R&D unit and have ruled out scope for pollution as no commercial production will be undertaken there.

While an R&D unit can cause greater damage to the environment than a production unit that uses proven technology, opponents of the project point out that the company has sought 100 acres of land, enough for setting up several production facilities.

''We do not want the polluting unit here and will not rest till it is wound up,'' former Bombay High Court judge B G Kolse Patil, who is leading the agitation, said.

''But, if there would be no commercial production, why the company had sought 100 acres of land in that case?'' he asked.

''We have adverse reports against the company from 54 countries and cannot trust its promises,'' he added.

Rebel Nationalist Congress Party leader Shalinitai Patil and widow of former Maharashtra chief minister Vasantdada Patil led the agitation in Alandi, while party president and union agriculture minister Sharad Pawar appealed to the the people to refrain from the agitation.

He also gave a clean chit to the project and condemned the beating up of a Dow official and burning down of his car by the protesters.

Followers of the Varkari sect staged a protest in Chakan, Alandi and Khed sub-districts demanding closure of the unit.

The Warkari community, followers of saint Tukaram and saint Dnayneshwar, have been protesting against the Dow project since January this year as they fear the chemical giant's operations would lead to severe enviromental crisis and pollution within the Dehu-Alandi belt, which they consider sacred.

The community members on Friday re-asserted that they would not allow Dow Chemicals, which is synonymous with Union Carbide, to set up any project in Maharashtra.

The US chemical multinational now owns the infamous Union Carbide that caused the 1984 Bhopal gas tragedy that killed several thousands and left several million others permanently disabled.

The Union Carbide facility in Bhopal caused the release of 40 tonnes of deadly methyl isocyanate (MIC) gas in the worst disaster caused by a chemical factory.

The Dow R&D project, however, has received clearances from the Maharashtra Pollution Control Board and the National Chemicals Laboratory.

Mumbai, Sept. 27: Maharashtra chief minister Vilasrao Deshmukh got a taste of Singur when he was forced to order US multinational Dow Chemicals yesterday to suspend construction work in the state following objections from local people that the project would affect the environment.

Deshmukh, on a tour of England and Switzerland to attract foreign investments, issued instructions from London that the company must keep its work on hold till a committee headed by a retired high court judge examined the grievances and submitted a report.

“He issued a directive that a committee headed by a retired justice should be appointed to examine the grievances of protesters and submit a report to the government within one month,” a spokesperson in the chief minister’s office said.

Dow is building a Rs 300-crore plant in Chakan, 220km from here and 40km from Pune, spread over 100 acres.

Deshmukh’s directive came after state marketing minister Harshavardhan Patil and Deshmukh’s close aide from Pune, Ulhas Pawar, telephoned him in London to say that the protests against Dow were growing and the government should intervene.

“We told the chief minister that there should not be any misunderstanding and that if people have grievances, they should be looked into,” Patil said.

Local villagers led by the Warkari sect — they are followers of Lord Vithal who strictly adhere to non-violence — have been protesting against Dow, alleging that the plant in the Chakan industrial area would pollute the Pune region.

They fear that chemicals and effluents used at the plant would pollute the Sudha river that flows nearby, creating problems for farmers.

The protesters intensified their agitation since January. They claimed the company and the Democratic Front government were “not transparent” about the exact nature of the plant.

The villagers dug up roads, put up blockades to stop construction material from reaching the Dow site and damaged temporary sheds in July.

Protests were staged all through the week and home minister R.R. Patil was gheraoed when he went to Pune.

Union Carbide, which is synonymous with the Bhopal gas leak that killed hundreds in 1984, is a subsidiary of Dow that claimed the plant in Chakan was a research and development facility.

Chemicals would be used in small quantities for research and be disposed of in a facility designated by the state government, Dow said.

The villagers also have spiritual reasons for opposing the project.

The Warkari sect, which reveres Sant Tukaram and Sant Dnyaneshwar, treats the region as sacred. Sant Tukaram is believed to have written his collection of abhangs on the banks of the Sudha and his birthplace, Dehu, is 5km from the project site.

Sant Dnyaneshwar’s birthplace, Alandi, is also nearby.

On Thursday, Shiv Sena executive president Uddhav Thackeray declared his support for the agitators. Sena workers staged protests in Dehu and Alandi yesterday.

Nationalist Congress Party chief Sharad Pawar has denied that he had a role in fast-tracking the Dow project and has assured protesters that their grievances would be addressed.

MUMBAI: State chief minister Vilasrao Deshmukh on Friday has issued orders to stop work on the controversial Dow Chemical plant, near Pune, for a month. The project will be reviewed and a decision will be taken after a month, Mr Deshmukh, who is in London on an investment mission for the state, said.

As part of the anti-Dow protest, warkaris members of the local religious-cultural sect organised ‘rasta roko’ at the Mumbai-Bangalore highway on Friday. On Thursday, protestors had gheraoed food and agriculture minister Sharad Pawar on his way to Indapur.

As reported earlier, there have been at least three major incidents of attack and arson at Dow’s site in the past two months. The US chemical giant’s Rs 400-crore plan to develop the unit into a global research and development centre has been facing stiff opposition.

Its relationship with Union Carbide — responsible for the Bhopal gas tragedy in 1984 that took over 8,000 lives — was the main ground for the opposition. Local environmentalists were joined by the warkaris who feared that the company may pollute the river Bheema. Saints like Tukaram and Dnyaneshwar had lived hundreds of years ago along the banks of this river.

Last month, a large group of protesters ransacked the company site near Pune. According to police, over a 100 miscreants came in jeeps with hammers, spanners, kerosene etc. They destroyed company property and set some machinery on fire. In the latest incident, a company vehicle was set on fire last week.

Appoints panel to look into protesters’ charges.

Maharashtra Chief Minister Vilasrao Deshmukh has stayed the construction of Dow Chemical’s research and development (R&D) facility at Vasuli-Shinde village near Chakan in Pune district of Maharashtra. While staying the construction work for a month, Deshmukh has also announced the appointment of a committee under the chairmanship of a retired high court judge to look into the contention of villagers, Varkaris (members of a religious sect) and civil society activists that the Dow facility, if allowed, would pollute the area.

The Chief Minister is currently in London, scouting for investments in the state. Ironically, Deshmukh took this step just a day after Union agriculture minister Sharad Pawar, while visiting Pune, came out in support of the project. Pawar’s pro-Dow statement had angered Varkaris so much that they intensified their agitation across the district.

Speaking at a conference in London earlier in the day, Deshmukh had appealed to industry captains to make farmers stakeholders in their projects as they were feeling threatened whenever attempts were made to acquire farmland for industrial or infrastructural purposes.

Dow Chemical is investing $100 million (Rs 460 crore) to develop the R&D centre over 100 acres of land at the Vasuli-Shinde village. In late July, Varkaris, led by sect leader Bandya Tatya Karadkar Maharaj, had torched portions of the upcoming facility.

When contacted, retired high court judge B G Kolse-Patil, president of Lok Shashan, the organisation on the forefront of the agitation, said, “We welcome the state government’s decision to stay the construction work and appoint a committee. This is the first victory in our long-drawn battle against Dow.” He also thanked Pawar for making those pro-Dow comments, which “hurt the sentiments of Varkaris and forced the government to take the decision”.

Reached for comments, a Dow Chemical spokesperson said they had not received any communication from the government in this regard.

Pune, Sep 26 (IANS) Followers of the Varkari sect in Maharashtra Friday intensified their agitation against Dow Chemicals to press their demand for closure of the multinational company’s unit near here for alleged pollution.

The Varkaris staged a protest in Chakan, Alandi and Khed sub-districts.

The Varkaris, known for their peace loving nature and devotion to Maharashtra’s reigning deity Vithoba of Pandharpur, are up in arms against the infamous Union Carbide’s sister concern setting up its Research and Development unit at Shinde Vasuli near Chakan, about 25 km from Pune.

‘We do not want the polluting unit here and will not rest till it is wound up,’ former Bombay High Court judge B.G. Kolse Patil, leading the agitation, told reporters.

Doubting the claim of Dow Chemicals and the government authorities that the company only wants to set up it R&D unit where no commercial production would be carried out and therefore no scope for pollution, Kolse Patil asked why the company had sought 100 acres of land in that case.

‘We have adverse reports against the company from 54 countries and cannot trust its promises,’ he added.

Even as rebel Nationalist Congress Party leader Shalinitai Patil, the widow of former Maharashtra chief minister Vasantdada Patil, led the agitation in Alandi, the party’s president and union Agriculture Minister Sharad Pawar appealed to the Varkaris in Pune to refrain from the agitation.

‘I will not hesitate to recommend the unit’s closure if it were to cause pollution but my enquiries have revealed that nothing of the sort is happening,’ Pawar said.

Referring to the beating up of a Dow official and burning down of his car by the protesters, Pawar said it was unbecoming of the sect’s character.

A Maharashtra Pollution Control Board officer told IANS that the proposed R&D unit has received clearance from the National Chemicals Laboratory but could complete only 20 percent of its construction because of the ongoing agitation.

Among those lending support to the agitation was Bharatiya Janata Party vice-president Gopinath Munde, who flayed the arrest and ‘humiliation’ of Varkari leader Bandu Maharaj Karadkar some days ago. The BJP’s ally Shiv Sena has also supported the stir.

Meanwhile, the Varkaris took out processions singing bhajans (devotional songs) at other places in the state, including Nagpur and Akola, to express solidarity with the agitation.

September 23, 2008

Friends,

The agitation against Dow has intensified. Since the arrest of Banda Tatya Maharaj Karadkar on Saturday, there have been continuous protests all over Maharashtra.

• Yesterday, protests were held in Thane. Today, massive protests were held in Kalyan (Thane district) where Eknath Sadgir Maharaj led the Dindi from Vithal mandir to the Municipal Corporation. Eknath Sadgir Maharaj, Anand Joshi maharaj, Jayshri Ghadi (Lokshasan andolan), Kishore More (Yuva Bharat) addressed the warkaris on this occasion. At this moment, protests are going on at Bhandup in Mumbai.

Protests in Thane yesterday that began a wave of agitation against Dow across the state

• Warkaris gheraod Dy.CM Shri. R.R. Patil at Satara and demanded immediate scrapping of permission to Dow and the immediate release of Banda Tatya and other warkaris. Dy. CM assured that they will think about withdrawing all the cases against Banda Tatya and other warkaris and villagers.
• Massive protests continued in Shirpur (Dhule district) where thousands of warkaris protested. Warkaris protested in Nashik, Malegaon, Jalgaon, Ahmednagar, Aurangabad, Ahmednagar, Pune, Satara, Sangli, Solapur, Latur and other places.

A huge gathering of warkaris outside Chakan police station

• The students who take formal education within the framework of the warkari tradition and are trained to become warkaris came out in open protests in Alandi. At this moment around ten thousand students of Alandi have come on the road demanding the immediate release of Banda Tatya, withdrawal of all cases and immediate scrapping of Dow Chemical’s project in Shinde.
• Pune Universty students protested against Dow. Shashi Sonawane addressed the students
• Tomorrow massive protests are planned. Warkaris are determined to have massive demonstrations, gherao, rasta rook (road blockade) all over Maharashtra.

Dow Chemicals in connivance with the administration is trying to break the unity of the villagers. They are following usual tactics of bribing villagers. They have declared a donation of Rs. 25 lakhs for renovation of the village temple. Yesterday, the women activists of Lokshasan Andolan from Shinde village strongly protested against the authorities and the administration and thwarted this move.

Shashi Sonawane
National Convenor - Yuva Bharat
--
LOKSHASAN ANDOLAN
Swatantrya - Samata - Bandhutva - Swawalamban
FOUNDER - Justice P.B. Sawant (retd.)
President - Justice B.G. Kolse-patil (retd.) (9822434343)
Working President - Com. Vilas Sonawane (9422520574)
Shashi Sonawane (9967134717)

Pune, August 05. Justifying the violent turn of events on July 25 at Dow Chemical complex in Shinde village, 60 km from the city, Banda Tatya Karadkar, leader of warkaris, said that he had been compelled to use force by the government.

“It is my experience that the government has never taken cognisance of peaceful movements. It is sad but they wake up only when the situation gets violent,” Karadkar said at a press conference in the city today. The leader of the Pune District Warkari Sanghatana said that his actions might be contrary to warkari tradition, but was harmonious with warkari teachings and philosophy.

“There is an abhang by Sant Tukaram we follow: To a good man, we will even give our loin clothes. But for a bad man, we will have our sticks ready,” he said. "The future course of action would be largely peaceful but due to government apathy towards the cause of the villagers, we will not hesitate to take recourse to alternate means," Karadkar said. With a view to educating the warkaris and gaining mass based support, Karadkar said that nearly a lakh warkaris would assemble at Dehugaon on August 9. “The police have already denied us permission, but the meet will go on, no one will be able to stop us,” said Vilas Sonawane, leader of the Lok Shashan, which has been spearheading the villagers’ protest against Dow Chemicals at the village. The role of the police in the village has also been called into question by Lok Shashan. “As most of the men in the village are absconding, the police have been misbehaving with the womenfolk, in a state of inebriation,” said Sonawane.

After a group of 100 villagers, including warkaris set fire to the Dow Chemical complex on July 25, the police arrested 15 villagers. Consequently, Karadkar publicly took responsibility for the turn of events, but the police did not arrest him.

“The behaviour of the state is strange. The police have arrested innocent people, but they do not want to question a person who has publicly taken responsibility for the act,” Karadkar said.

Accusing the government of dereliction of duty, Karadkar said that in a Rs 400 crore development project of the region sanctioned by the government, Dehu, Alandi and Bhandara have been included, leaving out Bhamchandra hill, where Sant Tukaram is said to have composed abangs. “If they had included the hill, the Dow Project would have to be shifted,” he said.

Pune, August 04 Villagers of Shinde Vasuli, who have been protesting against a proposed Dow Chemicals project, have received support from unexpected quarters — the Vishwa Hindu Parishad (VHP). Dow proposes to set up a research and development facility over 100 acres in the village, but villagers are concerned that it would pollute the environment.

“We agree with the villagers’ concern. The Indrayani and Chandrabhaga rivers will get polluted due to the release of chemicals. Followers of Tukaram Maharaj take a holy dip in the river and the pollution would pose a health hazard to these followers, who come from across the state,” Venkatesh Abdeo, the VHP's national joint secretary, told reporters here.

Abdeo pledged to join villagers in the protest. He said the state government was not serious about the environmental threat and was inviting a repeat of accidents like that in Bhopal in 1984.

The western region unit of VHP passed a resolution against the project, demanding that the state government respect the sentiments of locals and block the project.

Abdeo justified a recent incident when protestors set fire to Dow Chemicals' construction site. “The police is protecting the company even though the protesting villagers are being threatened with dire consequences,” the VHP leader alleged.

Meanwhile, the VHP would continue with the nationwide bandh on the Amarnath land transfer row and would take a morcha to the residents of MPs, Abdeo said.

In India, `political influence' plays a great role in ``getting things done.'' If you want to bend or break laws and quickly get to what you want, you need ministerial blessings. Once you are so favoured, government agencies are rendered to being spineless outfits and the rest seemingly looks smooth sailing. However, times are changing now and awareness amongst the rural folk about their precious land - thanks to information dissemination and communication at a lightening speed - has become a powerful citizen force to snub high-handedness and the wrong-doing of our elected representatives/authorities. And when such a citizen force turns pro-active and determined, then either there is a flare-up or introspection by the powers that be. Generally, it is the former, as the poor have to battle out their battles no matter how much any political party claims itself to be pro-poor.

This is exactly the turn of events regarding the case of the Multi-National Company, Dow,'s Chemical plant at Shinde Vasuli village, about 10kms from Chakan. Last week, the otherwise peaceful agitation over seven months to protest against the establishment of this company, flared up, literally. Dow, which has proclaimed to use 20 hazardous chemicals under the Schedule I of the Environment Protection Act (EPA) and has earned notoriety for being responsible for the world's worst industrial of Bhopal in 1984 (Union Carbide is its subsidiary company), has earned the ire not only of villagers but activists in Pune, Chennai, Bhopal and Delhi. The two issues that are being questioned by them are – why should a chemical factory be allowed in the midst of a village (and not in a chemical zone) and where's the guarantee that there will be no environmental hazard, given the background of this MNC which has a tarnished reputation even in its homeland, USA. Both these have remained unanswered by the government and not being convincingly found in the various official permissions sanctioned to Dow for the setting up of the plant here.

The trigger to last week's burning of Dow's machinery apparently worth Rs.2.5 crore, was firstly, the clean chit given to Dow recently by the high level committee which was instituted by the state government under Sham Lal Goyal, secretary, environment. The committee was set up to review the project, after villagers took to streets in early January this year. Secondly, quite shockingly, the committee gave a NOC to Dow to re-start its construction activity without making it binding on it to first submit the extremely stringent clearances that it itself imposed on Dow in its review report, not only from the Ministry of Environment & Forests (MoeF) but other central/state agencies as well. Dow sought legal intervention from the High Court seeking protection from the state government to re-start construction, based on the NOC given by the committee. The state government gave a nod and thus, a posse of 300 plus policemen from Pune Rural swooped on the village on July 24 (the interim order was till July 25). While, it was a peaceful protest on July 24 under the aegis of former justices P B Sawant and B G Kolse-Patil, the next day 200 odd `Warkaris' (reports say they were not local villagers but people from surrounding areas who are extremely sensitive about Dehu (Saint Tukaram) and Alandi (Saint Dnyaneshwar) pilgrimages in the vicinity of Shinde Vasuli) as these are the bastions of the Warkari tradition, are said to have done the damage.

While 30 odd Warkaris are arrested and 150 more voluntary sought arrests at the Chakan Police Station, the fingers should be pointed to the arrogant and callous manner in which the state government and the MNC handled the issue. Firstly, there was utter secrecy over construction which began overnight in the last quarter of 2007. Villagers of Shinde Vasuli were kept in the dark about which factory is coming up despite repeated queries from local authorities. The MNC had not even put up the mandatory board to announce this. So, suddenly when the word spread early this January that it is ``Dow, the company responsible for the Bhopal gas tragedy,' that's coming up amidst them, villagers began to vent ire. Villagers say when they asked the district collectorate why such a `poisonous' factory is being allowed in their midst they were allegedly told ```the land belongs to the government so it has a right to set up any kind of factory.' The MNC, after such social pressure, gave huge advertisements to all major local newspapers swearing it is a pure `Research & Development centre' and its existence is only going to enhance the environment around. However, documents procured by `Intelligent Pune' by invoking Section 4 of the RTI Act in the offices of MPCB and MIDC in Pune and in secretary, environment office of the Mantralaya amply proved that Dow was given a consent for ``manufacture.'' After this exposure the government quickly changed its tone and in the review report changed the word to `R&D' in stead of `manufacture' with other things remaining constant, like the use of 20 hazardous chemicals or the haphazard explanation of where Dow is going to dispose of its toxic waste.

`Right to Environment' is as good as a constitutional right in today's world of environmental degradation and India is a party to an international convention - `The Declaration of the United Nation Conference on Human Environment/Stockholm Declaration- 16.06.1972)'' by which it has to adhere to the `Trans-generational equity principle'' which means all common resources such as air, land, rivers, forests, mangroves air and so on are all held by the State not for itself but in trust for all citizens in common. Therefore, it is wrong to assume that the state can deal with these common resources, as it likes, without any reference to the people. Particularly, when people have reservations about a certain project they have a right to public hearing as well. None of this has been done in the case of Shinde Vasuli village. And as can be seen, it will be tough for the government to bulldoze, for the sake of economic prosperity! Also because, now villagers have been instigated by the humiliation meted out to them by the custodians of law.

Battle lines are drawn here in village Vasuli Shinde on the banks of river Sudha, near Chakan — the new automobile hub in Maharashtra’s Pune district.

The villagers and the people of the Varkari sect are on one side, while the state government and Dow Chemicals on the another. The bone of contention is the future of Dow Chemicals’ $100-million R&D project, for which 100 acres of land was allotted in the village near the Sudha, held sacred by the followers of a Bhakti cult called Varkaris.

The government is firm that the centre sees the light of the day, while villagers, social activists and the Varkari sect have vowed to ensure that the project doesn’t come up at the proposed site.

Last Friday, some activists of the Varkari sect and a few villagers ransacked the Dow Chemicals premises and burned and hammered down some temporary sheds. Chakan Police have arrested 16 persons in this connection so far.

On Monday, Banda Tatya Maharajah Karadkar, a prominent figure from the Varkari sect, dared the police to arrest by claiming responsibility for the attack.

However, police have so far not arrested Banda Tatya. “We cannot arrest someone just because he or she is involved in the act. We have to ascertain that person’s role in the crime before taking action,” said Inspector Vijay Ghadge, who is in charge of Chakan police station.

Karadkar’s act of defiance has given a new turn to the agitation by local villagers, which has been going on for the last six months under the aegis of the Jan Shashan Andolan. The grounds for the agitation were slightly different from what has prompted the Varkari attack.

The Varkaris, a powerful sect in Maharashtra with followers across party lines, oppose the Dow project on the ground that the land was sacred to saint Tukaram, a leader of the Bhakti Movement.

However, it seems the state government is ready to take on the might of the Varkari sect, supported as it is by a ruling of the Bombay High Court giving the go-ahead for the Dow project. When contacted, industry secretary Aziz Khan said: “We want to promote Maharashtra as an R&D hub and there is no change in our policy.”

“We have provided for police protection at the Dow premises and we will take all the steps to facilitate the setting up of the R&D facility at the site,” he added.

As for environmental concerns, a committee was appointed under the chairmanship of the environment secretary and the project has been given go-ahead only after the committee gave a green signal, he pointed out.

Says Kailas Panmand, a villager from Vasuli-Shinde: “We are against the project as it is going to pollute the Sudha, which flows from the area, and our livelihoods depend on it. The farmers in this area are quite prosperous, reaping three crops a year and if our water source gets polluted, our farms would be destroyed.”

When contacted, a Dow Chemicals spokesman refuted the charges that the R&D facility would pollute the river.

“Villagers wanted to know why we are digging bores at the site. They suspect that chemicals might be discharged through these bores. We have already clarified to them that this is an R&D facility and not a production unit and whatever chemicals we use for research purposes would be in small quantities. And even this will be disposed at a designated facility approved by the state government and not in the village itself.”

“As we are responsible not only to the local community, but also to the global community, we need to publish what is the level of arsenic or other chemicals in the ground before we start work at any facility. And to do that, we need to conduct soil testing. The bores were dug for that,” he added.

Speaking to Business Standard, Vilas Sonawane, the working president of Lok Shashan, asked: “In that case, why is the state government refusing to give details of the project report submitted by the company under right to information.”

Besides this, we also have reservations on the manner in which land was transferred to Dow. The 100 acres of land allotted to Dow is a common grazing land which belongs to the entire village. And before allotment, the state government didn’t feel the need to seek formal resolution by the gram sabha or gram panchayat, he claimed.

Varkaris admit that they have not spoken to Dow directly. “We conveyed our objection to the facility through the Andolan. When the company ignored the request, we razed the place,” says Varkari leader Sachin Sambaji Shinde.

“This is a place where Tukaram wrote the Gatha, which is a collection of Abhangs. Moreover, it is just 5 km away from Dehu, the birthplace of Tukaram Maharaj and is also near Alandi (the place of saint Dhyaneshwar, one of the earlier writers of Marathi language). This entire region is revered by the Varkaris who visit this region every year in large numbers.”

PUNE: After leading an attack on the research and development (R&D) centre of Dow Chemical International Pvt Ltd (DCIPL) on Friday, warkari leader Banda Tatya Karadkar staged an agitation on Monday demanding that he be held responsible for the attack.

According to the local police, the agitation staged at the Chakan bus stand saw the participation of 50-60 of Karadkar's followers.

Earlier, the police had arrested 16 persons who were allegedly involved in the attack.

In a statement issued to the media, Karadkar said that he was among the first persons to attack the site on Friday, and hence should be taken into police custody. Karadkar also demanded the release of those who have been detained by the police.

Suresh Ghadge, police inspector, Chakan police station, said, "We have noted Karadkar's statement, but we have made no arrests in this regard as yet. Currently, the police are busy maintaining law and order to ensure that the palkhis return safely to Alandi."

"We will officially record Karadkar's statement after the palkhis have passed. We will take further action only after verifying his claim," said Ghadge.

He added that according to Karadkar, there were several locals involved in the attack. Earlier, B.G. Kolse-Patil, leader of Lokshasan Andolan, had also claimed the participation of local persons, which, he has now refuted, Ghadge said.

DCIPL has proposed the establishment of an R&D centre on a 100-acre plot at Shinde (Vasuli), about 20 km away from Chakan. The research centre has been an issue of debate, with various organisations like Lokayat and Lokshasan Andolan registering protests on grounds of health and environment hazards.

DCIPL, whose international headquarters are in USA, is planning to invest Rs 400 crore here. Meanwhile, Shiv Sena through a release announced staging an agitation on July 30 at Chakan on Pune-Nasik highway. Arvind Sawant and MP Shivajirao Adhalrao-Patil have organised the stir against Dow.

Friends,

as per our earlier reporting, Banda Tatya Karadkar Maharaj Karadkar, one of the most respected Kirtankar of Warkari Sampraday (sect) who had led warkaris in destroying the construction of the notorious Dow Chemicals, marched on the Chakan Police Station near Pune to get arrested. The Police, however, did not arrest him. Tatya had written a letter to the Chief Minister of Maharashtra taking the responsibility of the demolition and ready to face the consequences. He demanded that Dow Chemical should not only be thrown out the Sant Bhoomi (sacred land,) but also out of our country. In his letter he categorically states that if the government dares to again start the construction, the warkaris will again do the same kind of agitation. He demanded the immediate release of the innocent villagers who have been fighting peacefully and non-violently against the proposed plant of the notorious Dow Chemical.

Banda Tatya, standing next to Justice Kolse Patil, reads out a declaration of his responsibility for the burning down of Dow's Pune centre

On this occasion, the police requested him not to march on the Police Station - instead they came to Chakan Bus Stop where the warkaris had assembled. The gathering was converted into a protest meeting where Banda Tatya Maharaj Karadkar clarified his position and publicly submitted his letter to the Police officials and demanded his own arrest. Even with this, the Police officials did not dare to arrest Tatya. The police said to the assembled warkaris and people that the statement of Banda Tatya would be taken "as and when required"! But they did not arrest him!

The police look on impotently as Banda Tatya asks to be arrested for torching Dow's centre

The government has no courage to take any action against the Warkari, but at the same time they want the Dow Chemical plant. Now there is a deadlock, which is bound to be resolved in the throwing Dow Chemical out of our country and throwing its supporters out of power.

Shashi Sonawane,
National Convenor - Yuva Bharat