Digvijay Singh, Chief Minister of Madhya Pradesh, instructed his
officers today in the presence of an ICJB delegation to drop all
charges against activists who were trying to contain a fraction of
the tonnes of hazardous waste lying abandoned at the Union Carbide
factory site last week.Ý He also apologised for the unwarranted
brutal treatment meted out to the survivors and their supporters on
25th November. “The heavy handed police action suffered by
well-meaning activists at the hands of the Bhopal police must never
be repeated again. We have already been robbed of our rights to
live in a safe and healthy environment when disaster struck
eighteen years ago. At the very least,we expect the government to
uphold our rights, and not compound our agonies by repressing even
our right to demonstrate our grievances in a peaceful way,” said
Rashida Bi of the Bhopal Gas Peedit Mahila StationaryÝ Karmachari
Sangh in a telephonic messge from Bhopal.
“We appreciate the gesture of the Chief Minister on both counts
and this is a key move in the right direction for the campaign to
nail Dow and obtain justice for the affected victims and citizens
of Bhopal but we do hope that it would be followed up by real and
timely action.” said Prayag Joshi, Director, Political Affairs,
Greenpeace India.
Specialists and trained activists of International Campaign for
Justice in Bhopal were brutally assaulted by the police last week
when they entered the derelict factory site to contain and make
safe some of the hazardous waste that has been abandoned around the
site. The police also impounded their equipment thereby making it
impossible for the international specialists o pursue their
peaceful intentions of bringing the world’s attention to the
ongoing crime in Bhopal.
Meanwhile on the 18th anniversary of the world’s worst
industrial disaster, the gas affected victims and their supporters
led a huge rally through the streets of Bhopal. The rally called
upon Dow Chemicals, teh owners of Union Carbide to assume all
liabilities and responsibility for the Bhopal disaster.
Participants are demanding that Dow chemicals takes immediate
action to address the demands of the survivors, which include,
Economic rehabilitation, long term health care, clean drinking
water and clean=up of the factory site, and facinlg criminal
liability charges as owners of Union Carbide in the ongoing case
pending in the Bhopal district court and ensure that prime accused
Warren Anderson, former chairman of Union Carbide appears to face
trial in India.
“We will continue to take this campaign to the doorsteps of Dow
wherever they may have offices worldwide until they accept full
responsibility for this disaster. Dow cannot hide and it cannot
forever evade its liabilites in Bhopal or elsewhere for that
matter.” said Von Hernandez of Greenpeace International.
Nic Clyde of Australia, one of the activists arrested last week
successfully delivered a ‘Clean-up Kit’ to Dow Chemicals in Sydney
this morning with a letter reiterating the demands of the ICJB.
Tara Buakamsri, of Thailand another
activist arrested last week today delivered contaminated soil and
water from Bhopal to Dow Chemicals factory in Map Tha Put
Industrial estate, as part of the worldwide protest to challenge
thw world’s biggest chemcal company and also handed a petition
letter to Mr. James R Fitterling, Managing Director of Dow
Chemicals, Thailand urging the company to show responsibility for
the poison gas leak which has already killed 20,000 people and is
still causing the death of at least one person per day from gas
exposure related diseases.
