Our Demands

Demands of Survivors of Union Carbide Disaster & those poisoned by Dow Chemical in Bhopal on the 40th Anniversary of the disaster

1. Criminal Justice

The Central and State governments must:

  • Ensure that Prosecution, Central Bureau of Investigation (CBI) seeks harshest measures against Dow Chemical, USA in the criminal case related to the gas disaster.
  • Ensure that the prosecution agency sets up a special cell to expedite the criminal proceedings against the Indian subsidiary of Union Carbide and its executives.
  • Ensure that CBI goes after Indian companies and PSU’s such as Gas Authority India Limited (GAIL), ONGC, Indian Oil Corporation, Gujarat Alkalies Chlorides Limited, Tamil Nadu Indian Additives Limited, Madhya Pradesh Vindhya Telelinks Ltd that continues to sell Union Carbide’s products even after they were barred from doing so by the CJM, Bhopal.

2. Compensation

Union Carbide / Dow Chemical must pay:

  • Compensation for health damages, including congenital malformations, growth retardation and immune system damage in children of gas exposed parents.
  • Compensation for health damages due to contamination of soil and groundwater in and around the abandoned Union Carbide factory site.

The Central and State governments must :

  • Sue Union Carbide and Dow Chemical to pay for damages to the children of gas exposed parents on the basis of hospital records and scientific studies.
  • Honour the 1991 settlement order of the Supreme Court by making up the shortfall in compensation by paying Rs 5 lakhs to each of the 5,21,232 gas victims for lifetime injuries.

3. Medical Care & Research

The Central and State governments must :

  • Ensure setting up of the Empowered Commission on Bhopal approved by the Central government in June 2008 with a corpus fund of Rs 1000 crore for medical, social, economic and environmental rehabilitation of Bhopal survivors.
  • Scrap plan of merger between AIIMS, Bhopal and BMHRC that will be disastrous for the health care of survivors.
  • Ensure implementation of all recommendations of the Supreme Court appointed Monitoring Committee on Medical Rehabilitation of survivors and their dependents.
  • Ensure free medical care to residents chronically exposed to groundwater contaminated by hazardous waste from the Union Carbide factory.
  • Ensure that NIREH (National Institute for Research on Environmental Health) set up in response to demands of survivors’ organisations, sticks to its original mandate and resumes research on the long term health damages caused by exposure to Union Carbide’s poisons

4. Economic & Social Rehabilitation

The State government must:

  • Ensure immediate utilisation of remaining Rs 129 crores allocated for generation of jobs and pension for the survivors of the disaster and their children lying unutilised for the last 14 years.
  • Ensure that housing is provided to all residents living in communities affected by groundwater contamination whose dwellings were demolished in Jan 2023 by the district administration.
  • Ensure that the monthly pension of Rs. 1000/- per month paid to women widowed by the gas disaster is increased to Rs. 3000/- per month. 530 women officially acknowledged to have been widowed due to the disaster but wrongfully denied pension so far, must be included among the beneficiaries.

5. Environmental Remediation

Dow Chemical must:

  • Dow Chemical must obey Indian and US laws and clean up the soil and groundwater contaminated due to reckless dumping of hazardous wastes by its subsidiary, Union Carbide.
  • Dow Chemical must pay for environmental damages caused by Union Carbide.

The Indian Government must:

  • Claim compensation from Dow Chemical for environmental and health damages due to contamination of soil and groundwater in and around the abandoned Union Carbide factory site.
  • Seek the assistance of the United Nations Environment Programme for comprehensive scientific assessment of the contamination of soil and groundwater.
  • Scrap plan of incinerating Union Carbide’s 337 MT hazardous waste in Pithampur facility that will only expose a very large population to dangerous chemicals.

The State Government must :

  • Scrap plan of pouring concrete over the contaminated factory site and thus covering up for Dow Chemical.
  • Provide clean piped drinking water to all communities within 4.5 km from the abandoned Union Carbide site.
  • Secure the factory premises and the area of the Solar evaporation Ponds as directed by the MP High Court.
Rashida Bi, Nawab Khan & Nasreen Bee, Balkrishan Namdev, Rachna Dhingra,
Bhopal Gas Peedit Mahila Stationery Karmchari Sangh

9425688215

 Bhopal Gas Peedit Mahila Purush Sangharsh Morcha

7441193309

 Bhopal Gas

9826345423

 Bhopal Group for Information and Action

9826167369

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