The PMO has rejected a
request for an appointment with the PM, and two further requests have not
elicited a reply. However, international support for the survivors is pouring
in. More than 1300 faxes from 18 countries have already reached the PMO,
prompting officials there to threaten survivors with legal action. Yesterday,
members of the Scottish parliament marched to the Indian High Commission in
Edinburgh, even as other
Bhopal supporters in
London went to the High
Commission there to submit a memorandum urging the Prime Minister to meet the
Bhopalis' demands.
On April 16,
2006, the Prime Minister ended a 21day
strike, including a 6-day hunger strike by the Bhopalis, by promising to meet
the demands of the survivors. The survivors had demanded an empowered Commission
to implement social, medical and economic rehabilitation schemes for survivors
and their children, in addition to cleaning up Union Carbide's toxic wastes,
providing clean water to water-affected communities, and taking legal action
against Dow Chemical and Union Carbide. However, the PM suggested a Coordinating
Committee to oversee implementation of rehabilitation schemes and environmental
remediation.
Over the last two years,
the Coordination Committee has had three meetings and accomplished nothing. More
than 25,000 people continue to consume poison-tainted groundwater in the absence
of reliable and good quality water supply. More than 5000 tons of toxic wastes
remain buried and spread in and around the factory site, and no efforts have
been taken to contain them or export them to the
US for final disposal. No
rehabilitation schemes have been implemented.
Government inaction on
rehabilitation and environmental remediation has placed Bhopalis at the
receiving end of two disasters – the 1984 gas leak and the ongoing water
contamination -- both with pronounced effects on children and future
generations. Despite a 1991 Supreme Court order directing the Government to
extend insurance benefits to 100,000 gas-affected children, not one child has
been covered, leading to a spurt in destitution among families with sick
children. In contamination-affected communities, congenital deformities among
newborns is a rising trend.
The future generations
are in danger. That, say Bhopal survivors, is why any
Commission that is set up has to execute its schemes over at least 30 years. The
Bhopalis estimate that the Government needs to invest in a corpus of Rs. 2000
crore to provide an annual budget of Rs. 100 crores for the Commission throughout its
term.
In contrast to the
inaction on Bhopal, the Government has, in
the last two years, openly advanced the cause of Dow Chemical and Union Carbide.
Information unearthed from the PMO through RTI indicates that
ambassador Ronen Sen, Montek Singh Ahluwalia, Ratan Tata, P. Chidambaram and
Kamalnath have all written letters supporting Dow Chemical. In response, the
Cabinet Secretary has suggested exonerating Dow Chemical keeping in mind the
scope of investments by Dow and other
US companies in
India.
In less than a decade,
Dow Chemical has chalked up an impressive list of violations of law and due
process. In February 2007, Dow caught for paying more than Rs. 80 lakhs in
bribes to Indian agriculture ministry officials to register three toxic
pesticides. In 2005, Indian Oil revoked a technology deal with Dow after it
found out that Dow was trying to sell Union Carbide's technology by lying that
it was its own. Recently, Dow has managed to convince Government of India to
approve the sale of Union Carbide's technology to Reliance Industries despite
the fact that a 1992 court order directs the Government to confiscate all Union
Carbide's assets in India.
"This is a repeat of the
betrayal of 1989 where the Government colluded with Union Carbide to shortchange
the people of Bhopal on the compensation
settlement," said Satinath Sarangi, another padayatri and a long-time
Bhopal activist from Bhopal
Group for Information and Action. "23,000 people have died, and the collusion
still continues. We're determined to break this corporate-Government nexus that
plays havoc with people's lives."
For more information,
contact:
Nityanand Jayaraman.
9717516003.
International Campaign for Justice
in Bhopal
B5/136, Sadurjung Enclave, New
Delhi-29
For the PMO files (Right to
Information), visit: www.bhopal.net/pmo.html
For PMO files in Hindi, visit: http://www.bhopal.net/Hindi%20PDF.pdf
