On the occasion of the 31st Anniversary of the Union Carbide disaster in Bhopal, leaders of five organisations jointly fighting for the rights of the survivors, today condemned the Modi government for its failure in resolving the lingering issues of the disaster. They said that the amendments proposed in Environmental and Labour laws by the Modi government would increase the possibility of the recurrence of Bhopal disaster in the country.

President of the Bhopal Gas Peedit Mahila Stationery Karmchari Sangh, Rashida Bee said that the central government has failed to take action against the American corporations that are defying the orders of the Indian courts.”The Bhopal Chief Judicial Magistrate has thrice sent notices for appearance to Dow Chemical but the Indian government has failed to make it appear in court.” she said.

The organisations said that CBI under Modi has deliberately discharged Dow Chemical’s Indian subsidiary from the criminal case of bribery. “The CBI has been always lax towards these corporations but they have never been as lax as they have been under Modijee.” said Balkrishna Namdeo of Bhopal Gas Peedit Nirashrit Pensionbhogee Sangharsh Morcha.

Nawab Khan of Bhopal Gas Peedit Mahila Purush Sangharsh Morcha was particularly angry at the Modi government’s failure to make use of UNEP’s offer to carry out a comprehensive scientific assessment of the ongoing toxic contamination in and around the abandoned Union Carbide factory in Bhopal. “Assessment is the first and the most important step towards clean up in Bhopal but for reasons that he hasn’t cared to explain, the Environment Minister would not accept UNEP’s unprecedented offer.” he said.

“The Prime Minister talks about cleaning every corner of the country but his Swachhata Abhiyaan does not concern itself with the thousands of tonnes of poisonous waste buried in and around the Bhopal factory.” said Safreen Khan of Children against Dow – Carbide.

The organisations were apprehensive of the amendments in laws proposed by the government in laws, that they said would prepare the ground for more Bhopals around the country. “By proposing self certification by corporations under Environmental and Labour laws, the government will be encouraging them to commit Bhopal like crimes all over the country.” said Satinath Sarangi of Bhopal Group for Information & Action.

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Press Statement
November 26, 2015

Hundreds of residents of the communities next to the abandoned Union Carbide factory in Bhopal today demonstrated at the JLN Hospital demanding free medical treatment, clean drinking water and exemption from paying water bills. On behalf of the Union Carbide Water Affected Struggle Front the demonstrators handed over a letter addressed to the Minister of Bhopal Gas Tragedy Relief & Rehabilitation in the state government.

The demonstrators pointed out that the 2013 report of the Indian Institute of Toxicology Research, Lucknow has identified 22 communities whose groundwater is contaminated by hazardous waste from the pesticide factory. According to them, for over two decades they have been drinking water contaminated by organic chemicals and heavy metals that are damaging to the liver, kidneys, lungs and brain and are known to cause cancers and birth defects.

Sunita, a housewife from Shiv Nagar said that while more than half million people exposed to Union Carbide’s poisonous gases in 1984 are being provided free health care by the government, 10 thousand families who have been slow-poisoned by groundwater continue to be denied free medical treatment.

Citing a 2009 report by the State Government run Centre for Rehabilitation Studies, Nawab Colony resident Iqbal Khan said that the scientific study has concluded that in comparison to an unexposed population, the residents of the affected communities have higher incidence of diseases related to the gastro-intestinal and respiratory systems and those of the skin and eyes.

In addition to free medical care, the demonstrators also called for rehabilitation facilities for children born with disabilities. “Because of the poisons their parents drank in the water, every fifth house in our community has a child born with twisted limbs or damaged brain. The government must make special arrangements for their rehabilitation” said Shehzadi Bee of Blue Moon Colony.

Usha Dongre of Shivshakti Nagar complained against the heavy charges for water supply by the municipal corporation. Along with other demonstrators she demands free water supply. “For over two decades we have drunk poisoned water from hand pumps sunk by the government, to wash the poisons from our bodies, the government must give us clean water free, at least for the next 20 years.” she said.

Following a May 2004 order of the Supreme Court, in August 2014, 10 thousand families were provided with connections for supply of drinking water by the state government. Today, many residents complain of erratic, inadequate and poor quality supply. According to Gangaram of Oriya Basti there are still several thousand people who are forced to drink contaminated water due to problems in piped water supply.

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PRESS STATEMENT

At a press conference today, leaders of five organizations fighting for the rights of the survivors of the Bhopal gas disaster condemned the deliberate delay by the state and central governments on the matter of additional compensation from Union Carbide and Dow Chemical.

Exactly one year ago the organisations had won their battle for revision of data on disaster related deaths and injury after a four-day waterless hunger strike by six Bhopali women. The fast was broken only after the Minister of Chemical & Fertilisers agreed to seek correct figures of disaster related injuries and death from concerned agencies.

As per the agreement with the organisations, figures of injuries were to be obtained from records of hospitals run by the state government. Additionally, the Indian Council of Medical Research was to provide scientific estimates of death figures on the basis of their research on Bhopal. It was understood that based on the figures provided by the state and central agencies, the Ministry would consider revising figures presented in the Curative Petition for additional compensation from the American corporations.

Rashida Bee, President of Bhopal Gas Peedit  Mahila Stationery Karmchari Sangh said “The State government took six months to send a reply to the letter from the Ministry of Chemicals and Fertilisers.[1][2][3] Almost a year has passed and it has still not provided the number of gas exposed people who visited the hospitals specially built for them in the years following the gas disaster.”

President of Bhopal Gas Peedit Nirashrit Pensionbhogee Sangharsh Morcha, Balkrishna Namdeo stated that documents obtained under the Right to Information Act show that the experts of Indian Council of Medical Research continue to dodge the question posed to them by the Ministry of Chemicals & Fertilisers.[4][5][6]

According to Nawab Khan of Bhopal Gas Peedit Mahila Purush Sangharsh Morcha, the ICMR experts headed by Dr Padam Singh are giving a bad name to their institution and to the science of epidemiology by failing to provide scientific figures of deaths due to gas exposure based on their long term research on over 80 thousand survivors.

Satinath Sarangi of the Bhopal Group for Information and Action said that the organisations will soon be moving the Delhi High Court against the ICMR experts who are denying the Bhopal survivors’ constitutional right to justice.

Said Safreen Khan of Children Against Dow-Carbide, “It is indeed a matter of national shame that the simplest of scientific questions on the Union Carbide disaster in Bhopal remain unanswered till today. And it is unacceptable that the survivors of Bhopal are being denied their right to fair compensation because of an incompetent bunch of scientists.”

 Attachments:

Minutes of meeting 2 March 2015

Anil Prakash’s letter may 21 2015

Letter January 28, 2015 from Ministry of Chemicals and fertilizers

Letter to EpiExperts ICMR April 2015-1

Letter to GoI (28.7.15)

Surjeet Chaudhary Dec 3 2014

MoCF Memo May 12, 2015

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