On January 28th 2020 a constitutional bench of the Supreme Court sits to begin the most important, potentially the most historic hearing on Bhopal for over thirty years.
Shortly after the gas tragedy, India took over responsibility for all legal claims against Union Carbide. Following a US Courts refusal to hear the claims, claims worth $3.3 billion were filed in India’s courts. In 1989 India and Carbide settled these claims for $470 million – less than 15% of the original demand. The amount was upheld by review judgment in 1991.
Press Statement on the 35th Anniversary of World’s Worst Corporate Massacre
December 3, 2019
On the 35th Anniversary of the world’s worst industrial disaster in Bhopal, leaders of four survivors’ organizations condemned successive governments at the centre and the state for colluding with the corporations responsible for the disaster and denying the survivors justice and a life of dignity for the last three and half decades. They jointly called upon the United Nations to provide urgent humanitarian and technical help to end the ongoing medical and environmental disaster in Bhopal.
On the eve of the 35 Anniversary of the Union Carbide disaster in Bhopal, leaders of four survivors’ organizations condemned the continued apathy of the governments at the centre and state towards medical, economic and social rehabilitation of the survivors.
चार स्थानीय संगठनों की अगुआई में यूनियन कार्बाइड के ज़हरीली कचरे से प्रदूषित भूजल के पीड़ितों ने आज परित्यक्त कीटनाशक कारखाने के पास मानव श्रृंखला बनाकर प्रदर्शन किया | भोपाल में यूनियन कार्बाइड हादसे की 35वीं बरसी के पहले इस प्रदर्शन के ज़रिए प्रदूषित भूजल पीड़ितों ने मुफ्त इलाज, प्रदूषित इलाके की ज़हर सफाई और यूनियन कार्बाइड के वर्तंमान मालिक डाव केमिकल कम्पनी से मुआवजा की माँग कि | संगठनों ने मध्य प्रदेश सरकार पर यह आरोप लगाया कि वह कारखाने के प्रदूषित परिसर पर हादसे का स्मारक बनाकर अब तक जारी इस पर्यावरणीय अपराध को दबा देने की कोशिश कर रही है |
Led by four local organizations, victims of chronic exposure to groundwater contaminated by Union Carbide’s poisonous wastes, today formed a human chain near the long abandoned pesticide factory. Demonstrating on the eve of the 35th anniversary of the Union Carbide disaster in Bhopal, the victims demanded free health care, clean-up of the contaminated lands and adequate compensation from Dow Chemical, current owner of Union Carbide. The organizations said that the MP government’s plan to build a memorial to the disaster at the factory site was but a cover-up for this ongoing crime against the environment and people.
