Bhopal gas tragedy killing and maiming people even after 32 yrs: Survivors’ reps

Special Correspondent

NewsBits.in

Bhopal:  “The Bhopal gas disaster is still continuing,” survivors’ organizations said ahead of the 32nd anniversary of one of the worst industrial disasters.

The organizations said that children born even three decades after the tragedy show disastrous impact of the deadly gas leak from the Union Carbide pesticide factory in 1984. The tragedy of December 2/3 killed over 15,000 and maimed over 5 lakh for life.

“This is because of poisoning of groundwater from dumped toxic wastes on the premises and surrounding,” survivors’ representatives said at a press conference on Wednesday.

US multinational, the Dow Chemical Company that took over Union Carbide in 2001 is responsible for cleaning up the contamination of soil and ground water in more than 50 square kilometres around the factory. In the last two years Dow Chemical has ignored four judicial notices asking its authorised representative to appear before the Bhopal district court. And now it is merging with another American multinational, DuPont, to further evade the civil, criminal and environmental liabilities of Bhopal, the organizations said in a joint statement 

The US government is sheltering both Dow Chemical and Union Carbide by refusing to serve the Bhopal Court's notices to Dow. This year within one month, 1.27 lakh people wrote to the US President's office asking that the Department of Justice serve the notice on Dow Chemical, but received only an apology.

The organizations have therefore decided to burn the US flag along with the logos of the two corporations in mark of protest on 32nd anniversary.

Further, the organizations charged the Indian government too with complicity in ‘crime of Bhopal’ by allowing the US corporations get away without paying adequate compensation and cleaning up the environmental contamination.

"The central government is downplaying the figures of death and extent of injuries in the curative petition before the Supreme Court for additional compensation from the US corporations. It is also refusing to carry out a scientific assessment of the toxic contamination of soil and groundwater, the organizations have said.

They also attacked the state government for neglecting the issues by not implementing even a single recommendation of the Monitoring Committee set up by the Supreme Court to ensure adequate medical care and rehabilitation of the victims and their children. It also failed to take any action on charges of corruption of Rs 18 crore in spending of economic rehabilitation package.

One of the most dangerous trends found recently was that cancer is killing 10 times more gas affected people compared to unexposed people of similar socio - economic background.

“The bottom line is that half the victims of the disaster are Muslims and 80 % of the Hindus are from the low castes. That is the reason that even 32 years after that fateful night we continue to fight for our lives and that of the unborn children," they said.

Rashida Bee, president of the Bhopal Gas Peedit Mahila Stationery Karmchari Sangh, Balkrishna Namdeo, president of the Bhopal Gas Peedit Nirashrit Pensionbhogee Sangharsh Morcha, Nawab Khan of the Bhopal Gas Peedit Mahila Purush Sangharsh Morcha, Rachna Dhingra of the Bhopal Group for Information and Action and Safreen Khan of the Children Against Dow-Carbide were present at the press conference.