In December 2011, after waiting for 26 years, Bhopal victims staged a rail roko to press the Central and State Governments to submit accurate figures of dead and injured in a revised compensation claims case filed in the Supreme Court. Cases, including on serious charges of attempt to murder were registered against 2000 people, including elderly women and children. From Chattisgarh to Madhya Pradesh to Delhi to Tamilnadu, people in the Government are the same. “They see poor as objects of charity, pity, ridicule or as seditious upstarts that need to be taught a lesson for their audacity to speak out,” the survivors said.

While the Governments had filed a review petition reopening the 1989 settlement on grounds that casualty and injury figures were under-estimated in 1989, their current submissions too fall far short of the real figures. Survivors have said that Dow Chemical should pay at least $8 billion to address the compensation needs of all survivors and those bereaved. The Central Government is asking only for $1.2 billion.

“We’re reminders to the world that the State and Central Governments in India will only protect the rich. The residents of Koodankulam should be ready to accept that the Government will do nothing but hide any pollution from the plant, and will do nothing to rehabilitate or compensate those affected by the plant,” a group of five Bhopal organisations said.

The Nuclear Liability Act is the unfortunate result of the Bhopal struggle. Pained by the plight of Union Carbide and Dow Chemical that continued to remain in the eye of legal controversy despite the passage of more than two decades, Dr. Manmohan Singh tabled the Nuclear Liability Act to shield the perpetrators of any future nuclear Bhopals from liability.

The survivors have said that they will send a delegation of Bhopalis to Chennai in the coming month. The organisers of the Bhopal hunger strike included Bhopal Gas Peedit Mahila Stationery Karmachari Sangh, Bhopal Gas Peedit Mahila Purush Sangarsh Morcha, Bhopal Gas Peedit Nirashrit Pension Bhogi Manch, Bhopal Group for Information and Action and Childre Against Dow Carbide.

For more information, contact
in Chennai: Nityanand Jayaraman, International Campaign for Justice in Bhopal, nity682@gmail.com
in Bhopal: Rachna Dhingra, rachnya@gmail.com

To,
The Chief Minister
Government of Madhya Pradesh
Mantralaya, Vallabh Bhawan
Bhopal, M.P.

25 January 2012

Sub: Application for withdrawal of criminal cases against over 2000 gas victims in connection with the incident of violence on the 27th anniversary of the Union Carbide gas disaster in Bhopal.

Respected Chief Minister,

We, five organisations of victims of the Union Carbide disaster in Bhopal and their supporters are sending this letter to you with the hope that you will consider the facts and arguments regarding the incident of violence on 27th anniversary of the gas disaster (3 December 2011) presented below and arrive at a rational and just decision and accordingly issue directions for appropriate action.

1.The following facts related to the protest action by survivors under the leadership of us, five organizations on December 3, 2011 deserve consideration

A.The protest was centered on a legitimate demand
Through this protest, we were demanding that the governments at the centre and state carry out necessary corrections in the figures of deaths and injuries caused by Union Carbide based on figures of Indian Council of Medical Research (ICMR) and hospitals meant for gas affected people in the curative petition filed in the Supreme Court.

We were only demanding that the governments at the centre and state act honestly towards obtaining proper compensation from the American companies and the first demonstration of this would be the presentation of correct figures in the curative petition pending before the Supreme Court because currently the figures are much lower than actual and are wrong.

We were not pushing for some new figures. All we were doing was seek revisions in the curative petition on the basis of findings of the scientific institutions and medical documentation of the government’s at the center and the state.

B.We had communicated this demand to the state government in July 2011, but for six months we received no reply. We had sent letters to your office on 25 July 2011, 17 October 2011 and on 19 November 2011 demanding revision in the figures of death and injury as presented in the curative petition before the Supreme Court by the state government. However we did not receive a single reply to any of the letters.

Likewise, we received no response to the letters we wrote to the Chief Secretary on 28 October 2011 and 19 November 2011 and that sent to the Principal Secretary, Bhopal Gas Tragedy Relief and Rehabilitation Department on 19 November 2011.

C.This demand is being raised by us to protect the legal rights of the gas victims. All victims of the disaster of 3 December 84 in Bhopal have the legal right to be adequately compensated for the physical and mental injuries caused by the disaster.

Through the Bhopal Act of 1985, the Government of India arrogated to itself sole powers to receive compensation from Union Carbide. In 1985 the Government of India sought $3.3 billion as compensation under the Act. In 1989 the central government, without consulting a single victim entered into a settlement with the American company for $470 million which was approved by the Supreme Court on 14-15 February 1989. Because of the paltry settlement amount, 93% of gas victims received only Rs 25000 as compensation.

The state government also had an important role in the violation of the legal rights of Bhopal gas victims. To justify the low settlement amount, the Claims Directorate of the state government followed a faulty system of injury assessment and pronounced 93% of the gas victims as having suffered only temporary injury.

At the June 2010 meeting of the Group of Ministers on Bhopal (composed of ministers from both the state and central governments) it was accepted that the legal rights to adequate compensation of the Bhopal victims had been violated. The Group of Ministers decided on presenting a curative petition before the Supreme Court to obtain additional compensation from the American companies and this decision was subsequently implemented. Regrettably, in both the curative petitions the figure of death is about four times less than the actual and 93% gas victims have been said to be only temporarily injured. It is worth mentioning that Union Carbide’s own document says that damage caused by MIC gas is permanent, not temporary.

Clearly if corrections are not made in the curative petitions on the basis of scientific figures available with the government, once again Bhopal gas victims will be denied their legal rights. If correct facts are not placed before the court, even if the court is committed to justice, a correct judgment is not possible.

D.Our demand is for protection of the constitutional rights of the gas victims.
In the meeting of the Group of Ministers on June 2010 described above, following the admission that Bhopal gas victims have received inadequate compensation it was decided that families of the deceased and those victims with serious injury would be paid ex gratia amounts as relief.

This decision taken by ministers of the central and state governments was clearly against the fundamental constitutional rights of 93% of the victims (Right to Equality, Right to Life, Right to Justice). In the last 27 years because of the utter failure of the central and state governments in providing medical care and economic, social and environmental rehabilitation, majority gas victims are denied their basic needs and this discrimination against them in payment of ex-gratia amounts is clearly unconstitutional. It is worth mentioning that following from the decision by the Group of Ministers on Bhopal 5,27,000 out of 5,74,000 who had earlier received only Rs 25000 as compensation were denied any ex gratia amount and the state government has not taken any steps regarding this.

E.The protest action for legitimate demand on December 3, 2011 was peaceful.
We had called for peaceful Rail Roko on December 3 2011 in which thousands of gas victims took part at six places between Subash Nagar railway crossing and Nishatpura. In five out of these six places – Nishatpura, Kainchi Chhola, Chhola Naka, Berasia Road Crossing and Bharat Talkies overbridge there was no breach of peace at all. Only at one spot, Barkhedi-Aishbag railway crossing, there was violence that was initiated by District administration and police officials about which we will present facts later. We would like to bring to your attention that to ensure that protest on December 3, 2011 remained peaceful we had explained the method of peaceful protest to the gas victims through a video film that was screened in different communities over a period of one and a half month.

F.Our peaceful protest was pre announced and the administration had sufficient notice.
As has been said above in Para A, we five organisations have given detailed information regarding our demand to the state government since July 2011. In addition, through our rally of July 25 2011, successful Bhopal bandh on 11 October 2011 and several press conferences, we have provided detailed information related to our demand and on protest actions organized by us to secure this demand.

With regard to the rail roko protest organized on December 3, 2011 we had announced it at a press conference on 17 October 2011 and we had conveyed this information in our letters to the state government on 28 October 2011 and 19 November 2011. Had the state government responded to any of our letters in the six months or discussed the matter with us in the month following the announcement of rail roko, possibly there would have been no need for a rail roko. In this regard it is indeed regrettable that the Collector invited us for a discussion on rail roko protest on December 2, 2011 but he refused to take responsibility to organize a meeting for us with the official of the state government who could take a decision on the matter.

G.We had done our best to ensure that rail passengers are troubled as little as possible because of our rail roko. Three weeks prior to rail roko protest we bought Google Ads and through that and through our website publicized the proposed protest action requesting potential passengers to change their journey date or route. Over 2,00,000 people have read our announcement and advice on the internet. Additionally gas victims participating in the rail roko action reached food and water to the passengers on a large scale.

2.The following suggest that District administration and police officials are primarily responsible for the incident of violence at one out of six protest spots on December 3, 2011.

A.Lack of preparation.
As has been mentioned above, because we had made prior announcement and the preparation for the protest action were all in public, the District administration and police officials had more than enough notice for adequate preparation. Despite this there was serious negligence in this respect. Lack of preparedness is a significant reason behind irregularities committed by the officials at the place of incident and this has been taken in cognizance by the State Human Rights Commission that has sought answers from concerned officials.

B.Lack of Patience
After the rail roko protest action began on December 3, 2011, the Collector asked one of our colleagues, Mrs. Rashida Bee to come for a meeting with the Chief Minister with 10 persons. Mrs. Rashida Bee sought ten minutes time from him so that she could discuss it with other organisation leaders. However the Collector could not wait for ten minutes and ordered cane charging in 3 to 4 minutes thus, initiating violence.

C.Taking away the PA system
It is worth mentioning that on 3 December 2011 the means to establish communication with the protestors was the PA system which was taken away by the police following orders from the officials just before the cane charge. After police began the violence we leaders were not able to pacify those protestors who had resorted to counter violence as self protection.

D.Cane charge without warning
As been mentioned above in Para A & B because of lack of preparation, required patience and knowledge of established rules, the Collector gave an order of cane charging without any warning. The State Human Rights Commission has asked questions in this regard that remain unanswered till date. The first protestors to be beaten up and left bleeding were the old women who were taking part in peaceful protest. The young men who came forward to save the lives of these old women were also beaten with sticks which was the reason for eruption of violence.

E.Profanities by police officials
Before sticks started raining on the protestors the city Superintendent of Police, Mrs. Monica Shukla publicly abused the women and used humiliating language against the protestors for which there are several eye witnesses.

F.Stone pelting by police
Following the order of cane charging a few people, in order to protect the old women and themselves, threw stones at the police. In response to this, the police resorted to stone pelting in a huge scale about which we have substantial photo and video evidence.

G.Tear gas and firing without warning
Following cane charging and stone pelting by the police, tear gas shells were burst without warning that lead to critical injuries to a 14 year old Daud Ansari causing grievous hurt.

H.Police setting fire to vehicles
Several government and public vehicles were set on fire on 3 December 2011. According to a reliable witness a policemen standing next to her handed over a piece of cloth to man who had covered his face with handkerchief and asked him to set a particular vehicle on fire. We have a photograph of the man with his face covered with a handkerchief.

I.Police entered people’s homes, beat them and caused damage to their property after the incident of violence.
We have reliable witnesses and evidence that show that one hour after peace was restored in the area, 40-50 policemen entered some 20-25 houses in Umrao Dulha Bag near Gol Kabristan and beat up people with sticks and kicked them. The policemen damaged furniture and broke doors and windows and smashed 10-15 vehicles parked outside.

J.The police arrested innocent people in an illegal manner.
Following the incident of violence, 14 persons who were gas victims themselves or children of gas affected parents were arrested by the police. They were beaten badly with sticks in presence of several eye witnesses and many of them were also beaten up at the police station. The arrested persons were not informed about the charges against them and they were not allowed to contact their family members and lawyers. They were stripped to their underwear at the police station and were not provided with any food or protection from cold.

3.District administration and police officials are themselves aware of their role in the incident of violence on December 3 2011.
It is worth mentioning that since the incident of December 3, 2011 the District administration and police official are busy trying to defend themselves and suppress facts. This is the reason why despite repeated questioning by the State Human Rights Commission the Collector and police officials have not responded to a single question. It is worth mentioning that in order to receive answers to these questions the Commission has sent reminders.

The defensive posture assumed by the District administration and police officials is further evident by the fact that despite our personal and public requests the police officials have not presented a single photographic or video evidence to support the allegation that any of the named accused (leaders of our organisations) were either involved with violence or with instigating violence.

4.Action under severe sections are being undertaken to cover up the irregularities and misdeeds of the police.

Legal action is ongoing against 14 persons under 17 criminal sections including Section 307 (murderous assault) and because of the following reasons it is prima facie evident that the accused were not part of the violence.

A.6 of the 14 people who are in jail for last one and a half month have got documentary evidence to establish that they were away from the scene of violence and at their workplace during the incident of violence. 1 among the 6, Pooran Vishwakarma lost his father while he was in jail and he was let out on parole for just three hours four days after his father’s death.

B.Two other persons have got documentary evidence to show that they were busy in preparations for their sister’s wedding that same evening. Both of them were arrested at a petrol pump 1km away from the place of incident with their motorcycle.

C.None of the 14 persons arrested have any previous criminal charge against them.

5.17 grave criminal sections against 2000 gas victims including 35 named accused are without any basis.

Because of the following reasons, the criminal cases against the gas victims are prima facie baseless, faulty and ill motivated.

A.The named accused include gas affected women who are sick and above 80 years of age and incapable of committing crimes described in the FIR (stone pelting, use of sticks, use of firearms and country made guns, setting fire to vehicles, using sharp edged weapons and causing destruction to public property).

B.The named accused include 17 yr old Safreen who is a child of gas affected parents and is herself sick from being exposed to contaminated ground water and is unable to commit the crimes described above.

C.The named accused include 8 women, many of whom are above 60 years age, who had been arrested and sent to jail prior to the incident of violence.

D.The named accused includes persons who were not at the scene of violence before, during or after the incident. There is video evidence with the police that establishes that one of these persons was 4 kms away from the scene of violence.

E.The First Information Report (FIR) lists weapons (sticks, sharp edged weapons, country made guns, firearems) which are not seen in any of the photos or videos while the police claims that the entire incident has been videographed.

With regard to the facts and arguments presented in Para 1-4 above, we would like to clarify that we have substantial evidence and documents to substantiate each and every fact and argument presented. We have attempted to make this letter as brief as possible keeping in mind your busy schedule. However a few important documents related to the criminal cases against gas victims are being appended.

Finally on behalf of the victims of the world’s worst industrial disaster we request you to set up an independent and impartial inquiry on the incident of violence on 3 December 2011 described above as per your promise.

We hope that till such an inquiry is initiated you will give rational and just direction for withdrawal of criminal cases against the arrested persons and 2000 gas victims.

Awaiting your reply, we remain
Thanking You

Sincerely

Rashida Bi, Bhopal Gas Peedit Mahila Stationery Karmchari Sangh 
94256 88215

Nawab Khan, Bhopal Gas Peedit Mahila Purush Sangharsh Morcha
9302792493

Balkrishna Namdeo, Bhopal Gas Peedit Nirashrit Pension Bhogi Sangharsh Morcha

Satinath Sarangi, Rachna Dhingra, Bhopal Group for Information and Action
9826167369

Safreen Khan, Children Against Dow Carbide

Enclosures: 1. First Information Report of 6 cases
2. Information on arrested persons

PRESS STATEMENT

January 26, 2012
Five organizations of the survivors of the Union Carbide disaster in Bhopal today felicitated Ms. Meredith Alexander, who resigned as Chairperson of the ethics committee of the London Olympics Committee over sponsorship of the London Olympics by Dow Chemical, current owner of Union Carbide.

Placing a bouquet of pink roses before a picture of Ms Alexander, Rashida Bee, President of the Bhopal Gas Peedit Stationery Karmchari Sangh said. “By speaking the truth so boldly Meredith has nailed Dow Chemical’s lies that the London Olympic Committee and its Chairman, Lord Coe believed and propagated till recently. We hope this will make LOCOG dump Dow Chemical as a sponsor of the London Games.”

Rachna Dhingra of the Bhopal Group for Information and Action expressed hope that Ms. Alexander’s resignation will prompt the Indian government to express its opposition to Dow Chemical’s sponsorship more effectively. “To be taken seriously by the London Olympic Committee, the Indian Government has to do more than send a protest note. It is time for LOCOG to be told that India will not take part in the London Olympics if it continues to be sponsored by a corporation responsible for continuing death and suffering in Bhopal.”

The felicitation of Ms. Alexander was part of the day long fast by Bhopal survivors seeking withdrawal of criminal cases on 2000 survivors and release of the 14 persons who are in jail for over six weeks in connection with the protest action on the 27th Anniversary of the disaster.

“We are demanding that the Chief Minister keep his promise of setting up an independent inquiry on the incidence of violence and withdraw the false cases on the protestors till that happens.” said Balkrishna Namdeo, president of the Bhopal Gas Peedit Nirashrit Pension Bhogi Sangharsh Morcha.

Nawab Khan, President of the Bhopal Gas Peedit Mahila Purush Sangharsh Morcha said “The state government has not filed a single criminal case against Dow Chemical or Union Carbide for their ongoing crime of poisoning the ground water and over 40 thousand people and has charged 2000 victims of the corporations with offences punishable by life imprisonment for peacefully demanding adequate compensation”.

Holding the district administration and the police responsible for the violence on December 3, 2011, Safreen Khan of Children against Dow Carbide said “Despite reminders from the State Human Rights Commission the district and police officials have failed to answer any one of the 13 questions on the violence during our peaceful protest. The officials hope to cover up their own misdeeds by putting people in jail and charging us under as many as 17 criminal sections.”

Rashida Bi,
Bhopal Gas Peedit Mahila Stationery Karmchari Sangh
94256 88215

Nawab Khan,
Bhopal Gas Peedit Mahila Purush Sangharsh Morcha
9302792493

Balkrishna Namdeo,
Bhopal Gas Peedit Nirashrit Pension Bhogi Sangharsh Morcha

Satinath Sarangi, Rachna Dhingra,
Bhopal Group for Information and Action
9826167369

Safreen Khan,
Children Against Dow Carbide
Please visit www.bhopal.net for more information on the Campaign for Justice in Bhopal.

Faced with massive public condemnation, the Chief Minister met the survivors led organisations and promised an independent and impartial investigation into the matter.
However subsequently,
Ø 2000 gas survivors are indicted with false charges including that of murderous assault.
Ø 14 men, with no prior criminal record, have been in jail for last six weeks. Out of these, 8 men were not even present at the blockade.
Ø Women as old as 80 years, battling severe health problems, charged with participating in violence using swords and guns.

CALL Chief Minister & Demand Independent Inquiry
Release those detained & Drop Charges against All the Gas Victims until inquiry is finished
CALL NOW
Ø S.K.Mishra (Officer on Special Duty to Chief Minister): 91-9425185550
Ø Deepak Khandekar (PS to Chief Minister) 91-9981306364 or 91-755-2441314

For more details stay tuned to www.bhopal.net

http://www.change.org/petitions/petition-to-demand-that-government-of-india-rectify-its-figures-on-bhopal-gas-disaster-related-deaths-and-injuries

January 14, 2012

Survivors of the Union Carbide disaster in Bhopal today burnt an effigy of Home Minister P Chidambaram to protest against the recent decision of the Group of Ministers on Bhopal of not revising the figures of deaths and injuries caused by the disaster in the curative petition pending before the Supreme Court.

Leaders of survivors’ organizations alleged that Chidambaram has a history of being devoted to Union Carbide’s owner Dow Chemical and called for his removal from the post of Chairman of the GoM.

“The GoM ‘s decision not to present correct numbers of the people Union Carbide has killed and injured in Bhopal is a decision unilaterally imposed by Chidambaram on the entire group. This decision is against data from scientific studies by the government’s own apex research agency Indian Council of Medical Research” said Rashida Bee, President of the Bhopal Gas Peedit Mahila Stationery Karmachari Sangh.

Presenting a copy of a letter written by Chidambaram to the PMO in 2006, Nawab Khan of the Bhopal Gas Peedit Mahila Purush Sangharsh Morcha said “Chidambaram had written to the Prime Minister to let Dow Chemical walk away from its liabilities in Bhopal. His latest attempt to downplay the damage caused by the American company shows how devoted he continues to be to Dow Chemical Company”.

“Chidambaram was the lawyer for Enron the most corrupt American corporation and a Board member of Vedanta the British company responsible for ecological and human devastation. He should not have been included in the GoM on Bhopal let alone be its Chairman” said Rachna Dhingra of the Bhopal Group for Information and Action. Her organization is among the five that are calling for removal of Chidambaram as the Chairman of GoM on Bhopal.

The organizations also sent a copy of a letter addressed to the Chief Minister by the four religious leaders seeking withdrawal of criminal cases against gas victims related to the incident of violence on the 27th Anniversary of the disaster last year.

“Religious leaders of Hindus, Muslims, Christians and Sikhs are jointly calling for withdrawal of the criminal cases against 2000 gas victims till the Chief Minister sets up an independent inquiry on the violence on December 3, 2011” said Balkrishna Namdeo, president of the Bhopal Gas Peedit Nirashrit Pension Bhogi Sangharsh Morcha who himself has been charged with murderous assault and other grave offences. He pointed out that the district and police authorities have failed to reply to the questions raised by the State Human Rights Commission in this regard.

Rashida Bi,
Bhopal Gas Peedit Mahila Stationery Karmchari Sangh
94256 88215

Nawab Khan,
BhopalGas Peedit Mahila Purush Sangharsh Morcha
9302792493

Balkrishna Namdeo,
Bhopal Gas Peedit Nirashrit Pension Bhogi Sangharsh Morcha
9826345423

Satinath Sarangi, Rachna Dhingra,
Bhopal Group for Information and Action
9826167369

Safreen Khan,
Children Against Dow Carbide

“The Chief Minister is yet to keep his publicly stated promise of setting up an independent inquiry in to the incident of violence on the 27th anniversary of the gas disaster and innocent people are being punished without trial. It is supremely ironical that those fighting against the crimes of Union Carbide and Dow Chemical are put in jail while the perpetrators of the massacre in Bhopal remain unpunished for the last 27 years” said Rashida Bee, President of the Bhopal Gas Peedit Mahila Stationery Karmachari Sangh.

Balkrishna Namdeo president of the Bhopal Gas Peedit Nirashrit Pension Bhogi Sangharsh Morcha who is himself accused of murderous assault and other grave offences pointed out that several women older than 80 years and with severe health problems have been named in the First Information Report as participating in violence using swords and country made guns.

“The videos and photographs produced by the police officials establish my presence 4 kilometers away from the scene of violence during, before and after the entire incident and yet I am charged under Section 307 and 16 other sections of the Indian Penal Code” said Nawab Khan, President of the Bhopal Gas Peedit Mahila Purush Sangharsh Morcha.

Satinath Sarangi of the Bhopal Group for Information and Action pointed out that the District and police administration have failed to respond to the questions raised by the State Human Rights Commission immediately after the incident of violence. “False charges have been leveled against 2000 gas victims to cover up police brutalities on peaceful women protestors that triggered the violence. The facts can only be established through an independent inquiry.” he said. He said that 6 of the 14 persons in jail for last one and half month had documentary evidence to show that they were at their workplace before and during the incident of violence.

17 year old Safreen Khan, a member of the Children against Dow Carbide who is also charged with attempt to murder and other serious offences said that the Bhopal survivors remain undaunted by the false criminal charges and are continuing with their dharna for the last 15 days.

Rashida Bi, Bhopal Gas Peedit Mahila Stationery Karmchari Sangh

94256 88215

Nawab Khan, Bhopal Gas Peedit Mahila Purush Sangharsh Morcha

9302792493

Balkrishna Namdeo, Bhopal Gas Peedit Nirashrit Pension Bhogi Sangharsh Morcha

Satinath Sarangi, Rachna Dhingra, Bhopal Group for Information and Action

9826167369

Safreen Khan, Children Against Dow Carbide

Please revisit www.bhopal.net for more information on the Campaign for Justice in Bhopal.

FOR DETAILS, SEE THE LINKS BELOW:

timeline for rail roko

SHRC complaint on violations of rights of accused

List of arrested with details

FIR of Aishbag Police Station for Rail Roko

FIR Jehangirabad

Details of Criminal Charges

PRESS STATEMENT

January 9 2012

As part of the international campaign “200 days to drop Dow Chemical as sponsors” five organizations of the survivors of the Union Carbide disaster in Bhopal today organized a protest action. Victims of the Bhopal disaster and those poisoned due to toxic waste from the abandoned factory in Bhopal, joined victims of Dow Chemical in Vietnam, Nicaragua, United States and England to demand that the organizing committee of the London Olympics, set to begin from July 27 this year, cancel Dow Chemical’s sponsorship.

The survivors’ organizations said that through its purchase of Union Carbide in 2001, Dow Chemical has inherited the criminal, civil and environmental liabilities of Union Carbide in Bhopal. They said that by having this corporation as a sponsor the Olympics organizing committee was encouraging it to continue to evade its liabilities in Bhopal. “It is ironical that champion runner Sebastian Coe is helping Dow run away from its liabilities in Bhopal,” said Rashida Bee, president of the Bhopal Gas Peedit Stationery Karmchari Sangh.

Standing with raised fists in the shape of a diamond, that of Dow’s logo, hundreds of children with birth defects and survivors of the disaster held up a sign saying “Don’t let Dow contaminate the Olympics”.

Balkrishna Namdeo of the Bhopal Gas Peedit Nirashrit Pension Bhogi Sangharsh Morcha said “Dow Chemical has paid compensation to victims of Union Carbide in USA after it took over the company, but in the Indian Supreme Court it is refusing to honour liabilities to pay additional compensation to Bhopal victims.” In a soon to be heard curative petition survivors’ organizations are seeking $8.1 billion as additional compensation for the continuing deaths and injuries caused by the disaster.

Safreen Khan of Children Against Dow-Carbide holds Dow Chemical responsible for the contamination of ground water in her community. She pointed out that because of Dow Chemical’s refusal to clean up the hazardous waste left by Union Carbide factory, 40000 people are routinely exposed to cancer and birth defect causing chemicals. She said that by allowing Dow Chemical as a sponsor Lord Coe was encouraging Dow to continue to poison the unborn.

Nawab Khan, President of the Bhopal Gas Peedit Mahila Purush Sangharsh Morcha said that Dow Chemical was sheltering Union Carbide which is charged with culpable homicide for the disaster in Bhopal and is absconding from Indian courts. He said that Dow Chemical is also facing criminal charges for bribing Indian officials. “Sponsorship by a criminal corporation such as Dow Chemical is against the very spirit of Olympics. Lord Coe is not only doing a disservice to the Bhopal victims, he is betraying all who are part of the Olympic movement.” he charged.

Meanwhile the indefinite dharna (sit in) for additional compensation from Dow Chemical by the five survivors’ organizations continued on its seventh day at the Yadgare Shahajahani park. The organizations are also demanding withdrawal of criminal cases against 2000 gas victims and release of 15 persons who continue to be in jail in connection with the incident of violence on the 27th Anniversary of the disaster.

Rashida Bi, Bhopal Gas Peedit Mahila Stationery Karmchari Sangh
94256 88215
Balkrishna Namdeo Nirashrit Pension Bhogi Sangharsh Morcha
Nawab Khan,
Bhopal Gas Peedit Mahila Purush Sangharsh Morcha
9303831487
Safreen Khan, Children Against Dow-Carbide
Satinath Sarangi, Rachna Dhingra, Bhopal Group for Information and Action 9826167369

I left my house with my mother and 18 other women from my neighbourhood to be part of the rail roko. At 11:00 am we all reached Barkhedi crossing. We sat on the tracks for almost an hour and there were thousands of people all around us. We were all shouting slogans. There were lots of police and then a few female police started dragging women towards the blue police truck.

When police started dragging the women two men pleaded with the cops not to drag women like that. The police did not listen to anyone and must have dragged 3-4 women into the police vehicle. Then I saw total chaos break loose. There must have been 100 cops with lathis who just started to beat up women. They did not bother to see who they were hitting they continued with lathis and whoever came in their way got hurt. During all of this one of the police lathis hit me in my right eye and then came the second lathi which hit me in the back of my head. I saw blood coming out I realised that I had to leave and also had to get my mother out as she is very old and it would be hard for her to run.

I grabbed my mother’s hand and then my mother was hit by a police lathi on her head. My mother fell down and she was bleeding profusely. Her entire sari was covered with blood. There was so much blood and it seemed like someone had slaughtered a goat. Then three men came and they picked up my mother gave her some water and put her in an auto. I took her to the nearest private hospital (Mansi Hospital) and she got eight stitches. The hospital asked me for Rs 200 and I told them I had no money to pay them. I was so afraid that if my mother’s injuries were not looked at she just might die from excessive bleeding.

This hospital is situated on the main road and I saw many policemen running on the streets chasing men and even women with sticks. I pleaded with them to stop their violence. I asked them if they would kill us today by beating us. Then two policemen who were blocking our way let both of us leave. After walking 20 steps we were stopped by more policemen and they asked what had happened to us. I told them it was due to their lathis that my mother’s head was bleeding and I had a black eye and swelling on my face. Then the police sent me to the emergency vehicle for dressing of my wounds. I received two stitches on my head and I was asked to go home.

We must have reached home by 3:30 pm and for next two days we did not go to the government hospital. We have been scared that police are going to come pick us up and will take us to jail. We have been reading in the newspapers that police have filed charges against 1,500 people and they have been picking up men from their houses at night. We didn’t do anything to deserve such treatment. We had just gone to ask for our rights and we sat on the tracks peacefully. I did not even think that police would beat us so brutally.

Meena, 40

At around 10:30 am about 45 women from my neighbourhood left to join the Rail Roko agitation. We all reached the tracks by 11:20 am and there were many women laying on the tracks and we also laid down on the tracks. I was surrounded by many women and there were so many people that all men were sitting beside the track. I was sitting with all the women from my neighbourhood as well and we were also listening to slogan chanting happening on the PA system. Then police started asking us to leave the tracks and started dragging one of the women who was wearing blue clothes. They were dragging her into the police vehicle and while she was being dragged one of the police women kicked her as well.  

I saw a young girl in black clothes was pulled and dragged by two female cops and put into the police vehicle. I continued to sit and so did everyone and when police asked us to leave we told them that we will not leave until our demands were met. Then all I could hear was sound of lathis around me and women around me being beaten up. I also got hit twice. A lot of women were running and I also started to run with them but then I fell. There was massive stone pelting happening from both sides. I cannot remember much, but I do remember that two young boys took me to the 108 emergency vehicle. Inside the vehicle there were 3 policemen. The nurse dressed me up and asked me to leave the vehicle. I could barely see because both of my eyes were swollen and I was in intense pain.

I started to walk and covered one eye with one hand as it hurt too much to keep it open. Then I saw one of my neighborhood women and I called her towards me. She could barely recognize me and it was them who brought me back in an auto. I have been so scared of the police that I did not even go to the government hospital to get any treatment. I can barely afford the private doctor but I have been paying him Rs 200 to come and visit the house every day so that he can give me injection for pain.

Tarabai

At 10.30 I reached there with about 20 women and lay down on the tracks. Some policemen said the photo session is over and now you can go – your work is over. We said we will not go. Bhaiyya was there. I saw smoke and heard a loud blast. After this the train blew its horn and put on its headlights. The women who were lying on the tracks got frightened and stood up. A policewoman with short hair told us not to shout slogans. The ADM came and told the police to drag the women and put them in the police vans. He then asked, who is your leader and we replied that we do not have any leader, we have come with our demands.

Poonam (60) hit on head

When Namdeo went a little further from us, the police hit Poonam who was sitting near me and is about 60 years, she was hit on the head with the baton. She started bleeding. Three women took her to the cabin. Then Basanti was hit on her hand. I told them to stop all this and also got hit on the hand. They hit Bibbo aged about 65, on the head; I saw blood and started feeling dizzy. They hit another woman who was with me on her legs. With all this, I panicked, at the same time stones started raining. Three or four boys came and surrounded us to rescue us from the lathis and took us away from there. From Aishbagh police station I again came back to the cabin. I took Poonam, Bibbo and Basanti to the No. 108, a madam was there and I told her these people are bleeding please give them some treatment. At the same time five policemen came with minor injuries nor were any of them bleeding, but they were the first to get attention. I asked the madam to put bandage on these old women, she told me to shut up.

Another policeman came who was hurt and he said “first put bandages on the mothers”. Then my nephew who is about 13 years came and said a bomb has gone off and a boy has been hurt in the leg. I started feeling sick and just sat down.

Namdeo

I reached near Aishbagh railway crossing at about 10.45. There already was a big crowd which had stopped one train. Tara Bai came and gave the banner. The women were sitting peacefully. The boys were shouting slogans. After that we talked with the ADM. He said that your symbolic protest is over; now get up from the tracks. I told him that our protest is indefinite, arrange a meeting with the CM, we will discuss the matter with him and then decide. Then the ADM reached out his hands to catch hold of me and all the women who were sitting on the tracks came and stood around me. The ADM said you people will not listen and then walked away. Then I went to the announcement auto where they were announcing that the protest is peaceful and will continue till the demands are met.

Then I went back to the tracks and Safreen came and told me that the police have snatched the mike along with the cord. I told we’ll see about that later. The media people came to me, the slogans continued. There was no inkling that there would be stone pelting. Then a sound came like a cracker bursting, I was standing near the engine, Rashida was near the gate. Somebody said that it was a bomb. People started getting up started shouting ‘Run’ ‘run’. I asked the women to keep sitting but they also shouted ‘run, run’. Some men and boys came near the engine and said that women are being beaten up. I asked the women who were near me to go and see what is happening. At that time there no fire anywhere. Women started to scream. I took some of the elderly women towards the road, took some 10-15 women and made them sit behind the bushes. I saw that the police were beating the women on the tracks with batons. After that the stone pelting started – from both sides, like rain. I then sent the women under the train. The policemen were picking up stones. I took the women from under the train towards Pul Boghda, to the temple and from there to the old ‘Galla Mandi’ and they went away. By that time the police were running on the road with batons, and were throwing tear gas. I waited with the women at the temple. I saw a vehicle on fire. After that Rachna called and said that we have to go and meet the CM, to meet her within 15 minutes. I then went through Barkhedi to Patra and from there to Dwarka Nagar.

I remember Monika Shukla saying “beat the bitches with lathis”

Safreen, 16

At 11.00 Nafiza and I along with Yashmeen and 3 other women reached Barkhedi gate and went to the tracks. We sat on the tracks for some time and then came to the auto. Yashmeen and I sat in the auto, Hazra had told us to be in the auto. Yashmeen was announcing, I went to the tracks and sat with the other women, both the gates of the level crossing opened. The police were telling the people to go away. We said we will not move. We saw Rashida Bee talking to the Collector and Hazra Bi speaking to one constable. Then Yashmeen came and said the mike has been snatched – she told this to Rashida Bee, she asked us to go back and she is coming. I then went to Hazra Bee, she was asking the men to go back, some of them were drunk (I can recognise two of them) Hazra Bee was keeping these men away from the women with a small stick. A man in civil dress, aged about 40, wearing white shirt with stripes came and started calling the police. Hazra was keeping the men away and so I called her back. The man in the striped shirt and other police men called the blue police van. Nafisa, Hazra and I felt that they were going to arrest, so we lay on the tracks and the other women also lay down. The man in the striped shirt pulled me; two women came and put me in the van. In the scuffle with the man in striped shirt, I lost my phone. Inside the van I told the police that my mobile has fallen please get it back. The police refused and they held my hand and made me stand up. They brought two more women and after that they brought Hazra Bee, asked her if she has my mobile and she replied no. Nafisa Bee was also brought to the van. I saw that the stoning had started and two police women were pushing Nafisa into the van. I said, Mummy come up inside, they are pelting stones, she came inside and the van started. The doors were open and I jumped out. Outside there was stoning. When I reached the tracks some women were near the engine. I searched for Yashmeen and the mobile; I went and sat with the women who were near the engine. Sitting there I could see that the stoning was from both sides. The women started to move from there. From the Aishbagh side people were throwing stones at the police. I was seeing this from the gate. I saw some people overturning a police vehicle. I saw a woman who was hurt on the head and was bleeding. A woman was taking her to the 108. Two media persons were saying that the police are being beaten up. Soon after I heard gun shots and every body shouted, they are firing. When coming from Barkhedi towards Aishbagh, I saw the police beating the people with batons and removing them from the tracks. I met Rashida Bee who was pacifying the women. She was asking everybody not to throw stones. I was also with her. The people asked us not to go further, we came towards the Aishbagh side of the gate and Aapa spoke to Satyu. When we reached the lane we saw boys running, they were saving themselves from the stones. Near the small bridge we met Shoaib, Naeem and Amir from Budhwara. Then all of us, Yashmeen, Shoaib, Naeem and Amir went searching for the mobile. When we reached the tracks there were lots of police near the gate and they did not allow us to go forward. We saw smoke coming from Barkhedi side and all of us came back to Rashida. We spoke to her about where to go and she told us that it is peaceful at all the other places and that we should go to Nishatpura, that Sathyu has been told. After this we reached Dwarka Nagar by walking on the tracks.

Rashida Bee

By 9:30 a.m. there were 5,000 people near the railway crossing. I got there about 9.45 a.m. just after the crowd had tried to stop the Punjab Mail. The SP (Superintendant of Police), TI and six police (4 male, 2 female) started trying to remove people. It wasn’t yet time and the crowd let the Punjab Mail go. I got there after the train had gone through. Lathis (long clubs) were being shown (brandished) but no one was being beaten. I went and lay down on the tracks.

It was 10:30 a.m. when I lay on the tracks – we were saying to the police that we would begin the action at 11 o’clock. Why were they waving their lathis at the public? The police would not allow our protest. They tried to pull me up.

Now there were more people. The goods train with the diesel tankers was seen coming from Pul Bogda side. The train continued coming forward blowing its horn. It was stopped before it reached the level crossing gate and then lots of police arrived. They came and stood near the train. It was 11.45; women kept coming and sat on the tracks. The police were saying start the train. The train started moving; there were at least 1,000 people. As soon as the train started, I lay down again and the train stopped. Two women constables picked me up and put me beside the tracks. All the women came towards the train and lay down on the tracks. There was Rahisa, women from Taufeekh Bagh, women belonging to BGNPBSM, women from the shanties along the railway track all came where I was being held by the police. Men, boys and children all came shouting “Hamme hamara haq chahiye – Sahi muawjaa chahiye”. “We want our rights – We want proper compensation”.

The railway crossing gate was open earlier but was brought down and closed. The Collector arrived; he was accompanied by the riot police numbering about 50 and two women constables. A man in plain clothes wearing white shirt came and said, come and talk to the Collector. I told him that I have seen the Collector and if he wants to say anything he will come here. He said you should go to the Collector. Then I stood up and shouted slogans. All during this time the train was hooting (its horn) continuously. Our auto with the mike was near the crossing gate. I went to the mike and announced, please do not blow the horn and frighten the people, people are sitting peacefully, blowing horn will frighten them, we want co-operation from the police, you are also gas affected. We are doing everything peacefully, you also maintain peace. After that I went amidst the women and asked everyone to sit down. I asked everybody to shout the same slogan. Somebody was shouting ‘Anna Hazare – zindabad.’

The Collector called me from the other side of the railway gate. I went and he said, get about 10 people and come and meet the Chief Minister. I replied that this is not something I can do individually; we will have to consult among ourselves. He said; take 10 people from here and come. I replied that we have been writing letters for the last 1 to 2 months but the CM did not give us any time. I will have to discuss this with the other organisations and any decision can be arrived at, only after that. The Collector asked me to call Rachna Dhingra. I asked for 10 minutes. I tried several times to call Rachna, but was not able to. Jamal Ayyub came and said to the Collector and to me that some journalist can be asked to contact Rachna. But that also did not happen. Jamal Ayyub said we cannot do this on our own. While all this was going on, the police surrounded us from two sides. During this time thousands of people were sitting on the tracks, from Pul Bogda to Barkhedi crossing. Then the police opened both the gates. They lifted the people by pulling their hair and the male police dragged the women on to the metal (stones) lying on the side of the tracks – Hazra, Nafisa, Baano Bi – four or five, women were hit by the police, they started bleeding. Some women went into the cabin near the tracks. Then the police started caning the boys. Many boys removed the women from the cabin and from the tracks, at this time the lathi charge by the police was going on. The public was running away. I fell down and some people ran over me. Then the public picked up stones, and it started raining stones. The police also started pelting stones. I told the people not to throw stones but nobody was listening. Stones were being pelted by both the public and the police. The police started to run towards Pul Bogda. Three or four vehicles of the police came with RAF jawans and burst tear gas without warning anyone.

I called Sathyu on the phone who said, Aapa somehow try to stop all this. On Sathyu’s advice I came in between the police and the public. By that time a white colour jeep was on fire. I then went towards the road and asked people with folded hands to maintain peace. Some boys stopped pelting stones. After that when I went to the gate and 50 to 60 women again came and sat on the tracks. The police started to fire from Pul Bogda side. Some of the boys in the crowd went towards the train and said they will set it to fire. I told them the whole bagh will be on fire. The boys said, put the Pulzar motorcycle under the goods train. But I intervened and somehow managed to turn them off. They stoned the rail engine and broke its window panes. The public scattered due to the firing. By that time more police had reached, and were pursuing people into the lanes and into homes and beating them up. I have seen all this. Then I got a call from Sathyu saying that we have to meet the CM. So I started walking on the tracks towards north. The riot continued behind me.

When the collector was talking with me, somebody burnt an effigy on the other side of the gate. There was a cracker in it. The collector told me that I am letting bombs go off. I told him it was just a cracker and went to the other side and managed to get some water and put the fire out. The Collector then said that I will not be able to manage the public and they will manage the situation. To which I told him that on 3rd December people usually burn effigies, he said you people will not understand.

On the occasion of International Human Rights Day hundreds of survivors of the Union Carbide disaster in Bhopal marched to the Raj Bhavan, the residence of the Governor of the state, calling for protection against violation of their Human Rights. The five organisations leading the rally said that they were demanding the Governor’s intervention to stop the revictimisation and abuse of human rights of the survivors due to ongoing police atrocities.

The organizations launched a music CD that narrates the human rights abuse suffered by the victims of the Bhopal disaster at central library grounds at the starting point of the rally.

Representatives of the organizations presented a memorandum containing six demands for protection of the human rights of the survivors. They demanded immediate setting up of impartial and independent investigation in to the incident of violence on the 27th anniversary of the disaster and called for withdrawal of criminal cases against 1500 to 2000 gas victims including charges of murderous assault leveled against Mr. Balkrishna Namdeo and others.

The organizations also demanded immediate stoppage of intimidation, illegal detentions and custodial beatings carried out by the police in Barkhedi – Aishbag area.

In a separate Letter to the Chief Minister , the organizations have demanded that the CM keep his promise of correction of figures of deaths and injuries caused by the disaster in the soon to be heard curative petition for compensation in the Supreme Court of India.

Demands of Bhopal survivors on International Human Rights day

Rashida Bee, Bhopal Gas Peedit Mahila Stationery Karmachari Sangh, 94256 88215

Nawab Khan,Bhopal Gas Peedit Mahila Purush Sangharsh Morcha, 9302792493

Rampyari Bai, Bhopal Gas Peedit Nirashrit Pension Bhogi Sangharsh Morcha

Satinath Sarangi, Rachna Dhingra, Bhopal Group for Information and Action, 9826167369

Safreen Khan, Children Against Dow Carbide

“What I’m seeing is a very violent lathi charge against people lying on the tracks, and stone throwing against police, a full-on battle. I’m seeing more fires on the road, women with blood running down their faces from head wounds, cage-like structures full of people presumably under arrest, and some of the TV cameras now appear to be shooting from behind riot shields. There are clearly thousands of people on the streets.”

Spoke on the phone a few hours ago to a survivors’ leader in Bhopal. Sorry not to get this up sooner, a lot of things are going on. Everyone flying about crazily. Here’s what she told me:

15-year old Daoud is seriously injured in hospital and may lose his hand after it was badly mangled by a rubber bullet fired by police.

It happened at Barkhedi, one of five places where the survivors lay down on the tracks to stop trains.

The survivors had announced the places where survivors were to make their way in groups and the police in riot gear with helmets, shields and cudgels (lathis) were waiting.

Police attack and beat elderly women and men

Among the survivors in this place were several older women, among the Goldman Prize co-winner and co-founder of the Chingari Trust, Rasheeda Bi (55).

Police attacked her with cudgels and fists. Her brother in law, coming to her aid, had his leg broken in three places.

Among the other older ladies attacked by police with cudgels were Hazra Bee, a grandmother whose grandchildren suffer serious birth defects, and Bano Bee (60), whose hand is badly bruised and swollen. In 2006 in Delhi, Bano was knocked unconscious by a police kick to her ribs. In hospital she was threatened being cut open. 18 year old Rafat was dragged along the stony ground till her skin was scraped off. Nafisa was also beaten. Like Rashida and Bano, Nafisa has twice walked the 500 miles to Delhi (she is the first speaker in Daniel Gosling’s excellent video of the 2008 padyatra, where at 9′:43″ you can see Rashida, Nafisa and Bano together.).

Police attack sparks angry response

The attack on the women drove the younger boys and men to a fury and they began throwing stones at the police, who responded by throwing stones back at them.

The police then fired rubber bullets directly into the mass of survivors on the tracks. This is when Daoud’s hand was injured.

Until the police attacked the women the action had been peaceful. Pictures and footage from Barkhedi clearly show the police attacking with cudgels first, after which the situation grew increasingly violent.

The protests passed off peacefully at the other four locations.

Eight women were arrested but are now released after, as reported in the earlier post, survivors leaders met the Chief Minister, who agreed to all their demands (for details of these please see the rail roko pages links at right) and wrote to Prime Minister Manmohan Singh.

The response to the rail roko call was overwhelming. Fifty thousand people turned out onto the streets.

“We had never expected so many,” said the survivors’ leader, “the people were angry about being lied to for years. They were angry that people in high places side with Dow, as the London Olympics are doing, and Lord Coe’s continual parroting of Dow PR … Even after the Chief Minister called us [the survivors' leaders] to a meeting and agreed to all our demands – the people have learned not to trust politicians – they wanted to stay on the railway tracks.”

Even after the action was called off people were wandering with blood on their faces and clothes joined huge crowds milling in the centre of the city, who were horrified to see the state of them.

Huge public anger at Dow and Coe

Anger turned to fury when the TV networks began broadcasting reports that Dow Chemical had refused to appear before the Supreme Court and that Lord Coe was refusing to withdraw his support of Dow.

Dow’s statement, issued through its lawyers was so terse as to be insulting and its remarks dismissive, designed to provoke.

“The Bhopal victims have been more than adequately compensated.”

Really? Well, Lord Coe, check these figures. Then decide whether you’ll also start repeating Dow’s famous 2002 statement, made the year after it merged with Union Carbide:

“$500 is plenty good for an Indian”.

Look at it another way:

The survivors groups have called off the rail roko after a meeting with the Bhopal CM earlier today. The CM has agreed to all the demands of the survivors and in turn written to Prime Minister Manmohan Singh supporting the survivors demands. CM’s office has issued a press note to this effect.

So far 8 women survivors continue to be in jail for participating the rail roko today and 10 persons are in hospital with injuries inflicted when police attacked them with cudgels (lathis).

Keep visiting this site for the latest news as we get it. This post is still being written as you are reading it. Please refresh your browser

The “rail roko/stop the trains” protest in Bhopal began peacefully as planned at dawn this morning. Survivors with their families and friends gathered in groups and went to places on the railway line to lie down and begin a peaceful protest.

Police in riot gear with shields and “lathis”, long heavy clubs, turned out in force and began to attack the survivors, sparing neither the old, women and children.

Phone reports speak of people hit by stones and lathis covered in blood. One person is said to be critical in hospital. Many have been arrested. Bodies are lying on the ground in scenes reminiscient of the gas disaster of which today is the 27th anniversary.

Rail Roko facts and figures here

The “rail roko” was a desperate last attempt to get the Indian government to publish the true figures of deaths and injuries attributable to the 1984 gas disaster. It is well recognised the numbers of victims were vastly underrated.

The $470 million 1989 settlement between Union Carbide and the Indian government was based on those figures, consequently the compensation available to victims was pitifully inadequate.

That settlement was not, as Union Carbide’s alter ego Dow Chemical (they merged into one operation in 2001) claims “full and final”. It was reopened by the Supreme Court in 1991 when criminal charges were reinstated against Union Carbide.

The present government has gone back to the Supreme Court with a “curative petition” to seek additional compensation from the company on the basis of what we now, 27 years later, know to be the scale of the human toll.

While welcoming the curative petition, the survivors are frustrated because the government is still not publishing the true figures. For example the curative petition counts 5295 deaths, but the government’s own figures, obtained from the Indian Council of Medical Research and other government bodies, put the true death toll at 22,917.

25 November 2011

At a press conference today five organizations of the survivors of the 1984 Union Carbide disaster in Bhopal congratulated the Chief Minister for his strong assertions against sponsorship of Olympic Games by The Dow Chemical Company. The organizations condemned the continued silence of the Prime Minister and the Minister of Sports on this issue of national and international significance despite petitions from Indian Olympians and Bhopal survivors’ organizations.

The organizations expressed hope that the Chief Minister, in line with his convictions, will take steps to ensure that correct figures of deaths and injuries caused by the gas disaster in Bhopal are presented in the Supreme Court in the ongoing Curative Petition. They said that only this will ensure that Dow Chemical along with Union Carbide are made to pay adequate compensation for the disaster.

Currently the Government’s curative petition for compensation mentions 5295 deaths and categorizes 93 % of the victims as ‘temporarily injured’. The organizations stated that data from central government-run Indian Council of Medical Research and the state government-run gas relief hospitals show that the actual number of exposure-related deaths is close to 25, 000 and that the gas victims have been permanently, not temporarily, injured.

The organizations presented a copy of Union Carbide’s “Safety Considerations Report” that stated that the effects of MIC exposure may cause “major residual injury in spite of prompt treatment”. They pointed out that recent research by internationally reputed scientist Professor Srinivasamurthy, has established that 80 % of those with mental illness caused by the disaster have not recovered in the last 27 years.

According to the organizations the Government should be asking for Rs. 37 thousand crores (8.1 billion dollars) as compensation for the disaster on the basis of the corrected figures and not Rs. 3 to 6 thousand crores (630 million to 1.2 billion dollars) as it has currently done. They said that the Government is asking for so little that it looks like another sell-out to Union Carbide and Dow Chemical like the 1989 settlement.

The organizations said that they have had no response from the Government on their demand for correction of damage figures in the curative petition. They said that they are going ahead with their plan to stop all trains passing through Bhopal starting from December 3, 2011, the 27^th anniversary of the disaster.

The representatives  of five survivors organizations met with the Secretary, Ministry of Chemicals on Fertilizers. The Ministry of Chemicals is the nodal ministry on all issues concerning the disaster and this official is nominated by the Government of India for negotiations with the survivors. The meeting was focused on Government of India revising figures of deaths and extent of injuries caused by Union Carbide/Dow Chemical that have been presented in the soon to be heard curative petition before the Supreme Court. The survivors informed the secretary that they will stop trains peacefully and indefinitely starting from December 3, 2011 if their demands for adequate compensation from Union Carbide/Dow Chemical were not met with

The secretary said that government will reply in 10 days.

The letter with all the Enclosure given to Secretary, Ministry of Chemicals and Fertilizers is as follows:

Mr. K. Jose Cyriac

Secretary to the Government of India,

Department of Chemicals and Petrochemicals

Ministry of Chemicals and Fertilizers

Shastri Bhavan

New Delhi

November 3, 2011

Sub :  Discussion on compensation to be sought from Dow Chemical Company and Union Carbide for  deaths and injuries caused by the December 1984 Union Carbide disaster in Bhopal in the context of the Curative Petition pending before the Supreme Court of India and the joint call for “Rail Roko” by five Bhopal survivors’ organizations.

Dear Sir,

On behalf of the survivors of the December 1984 Union Carbide disaster in Bhopal we are writing to you to demand that:

1.         The Government of India seek adequate compensation from the American multinationals Union Carbide and its owner The Dow Chemical Company in the curative petition that is currently pending before the Supreme Court of India,

2.         In order to seek adequate compensation from the American corporations the Government of India must revise the figures of deaths and extent of injuries caused by the disaster and present figures based on scientific research and official documents including documents of the Madhya Pradesh government.

At the outset we would like to assure you that these demands have the support of the entire community of victims of the December 1984 gas disaster. A most recent demonstration of this support was the peaceful and voluntary response from all sections of the affected population to our joint call for “Bhopal Bandh” on October 11, 2011.Enclosure 1

Based on this mass support and because we have not had any meaningful response to our several letters Enclosure 2a colly, Letters to the Prime Minister, Enclosure 2b colly Group of Ministers on Bhopal et al) on this particular issue and more importantly because the curative petition is soon be heard by the Supreme Court, we have given a joint call for peaceful indefinite “Rail Roko” on the 27th anniversary of the disaster on December 3, 2011, if our demands are not met with.

Below we are presenting the facts and arguments which call for serious revision of the data on disaster related deaths and injuries that has been presented before the Supreme Court of India.

1.      The figure of 5295 Union Carbide disaster related deaths presented in the Curative Petition filed by the  Government of India is incorrect and is not supported by official documents.

1. 1   Documents of the Government of Madhya Pradesh place the number of  disaster related deaths at 15248 or more.

The document submitted to the Ministry of Chemicals and Fertilizers and the National Planning Commission by the Madhya Pradesh Government titled “Memorandum on Plan of Actions for the relief and rehabilitation of Bhopal Gas victims” (Enclosure 3) in 2008 mentions the following:

“After gas disaster almost 16,000 deaths have occurred. Out of all deaths it was estimated that about 5000 widows are there who needs financial support for their livelihood.”

More recently in the criminal Curative Petition presented before the Supreme Court of India the Madhya Pradesh government Enclosure 4 has said :

“In the unfortunate incident happened on the intervening nights of 2/3.12.1984, as per the survey of Madhya Pradesh Gas Relief and Rehabilitation Department 15248 of people have died and thousands of people are temporarily or permanently disabled as a result of gas leak by October, 2003.”

We would like to emphasize that the Ministry of Chemicals and Fertilizers has already granted the sums sought by the Government of Madhya Pradesh in the Action Plan mentioned above. Sums provided for such social rehabilitation measures as pension for women widowed by the disaster are based on the number of disaster related deaths. The Ministry of Chemicals must explain to the public how it could accept a figure of 15, 248 deaths (caused by the disaster) in providing financial grants but would not present that figure before the Supreme Court of India.

1.2       The GoMP figure of 15248 deaths is only till 1997 and the projected estimate of current death toll is closer to 23000.

It needs to be pointed out that the figure of Union Carbide disaster related deaths (15248) presented by the Madhya Pradesh government, mentioned above, represents the official record of the death toll till the year 1997. In 1997 the Office of the Welfare Commissioner, Bhopal Gas Victims in Bhopal stopped registration of claims for compensation for disaster related deaths without providing any justification.

Factually, deaths attributable to toxic exposure in December 1984 continued to occur well past 1997. As reported by the Government of Madhya Pradesh run Centre for Rehabilitation Studies in the year 2000, (Enclosure 5)  370 persons died (one victim per day) as a consequence of exposure to Union Carbide’s toxic gases in 1984.

A conservative estimate of the current death toll on the basis of GoMP’s figure of deaths till 1997 can be arrived at by assuming that the death toll in the next 13 years was half of that in the first 13 years (1984 to 1997).  Thus we arrive at a figure of 22872.

2.         The figure of 5295 Union Carbide disaster related deaths presented in the Curative Petition filed by the Government of India is a fraction of the death figure obtained through projection of findings of the decadal research of the Indian Council of Medical Research (ICMR).

One of the 24 research projects initiated by the ICMR to study the health impact of the Union Carbide disaster was a decadal 1984 to 1994) epidemiological study involving over 80 thousand exposed and over 21 thousand unexposed populations.

The findings of this research were published in 2004 and it is seen that in the 9 years following the disaster (1985 to 1993) 9667 persons died as a consequence of the disaster (Enclosure 6, Plot of Number of deaths caused due to gas disaster from 1985-93)  To this must be added ICMR’s estimate of 2500 deaths in the month of December 1984 and the ICMR’s findings regarding spontaneous abortions attributable to exposure in the first five years which is 3500.

Due to reasons that remain unknown, ICMR discontinued the epidemiological research in 1994. However, it can be conservatively assumed that the death rate fell by half in the next nine years (1994 to 2002) and to one fourth in the following nine years (2003 to 2011). This presents us with an estimated current death toll of 22917 which is more than 4 times of the figure presented by the Government of India in the Curative Petition pending before the Supreme Court of India.

3.         The figures related to the extent of injury suffered by the victims of the Union Carbide disaster as presented by the Government of India are unreliable and in need of serious revision in the light of official documents and results of scientific research by government agencies.

3.1       At different periods the Government of India has presented wildly varying estimates of the number of victims and the extent of injury suffered by them before the Supreme Court of India.

The enclosed Graph (Enclosure 7, Govt figures of injury compensation presented before Supreme Court in different years) shows that as per the Indian Government the number of victims has gone up five times from 1989 to 2010. The number of victims with permanent injury caused by MIC exposure (which arguably is the most common impact of MIC exposure) has gone down 61 times from 30, 000 in 1989 to 4902 in 2010 and the number of victims with injury of utmost severity has gone down 48 times from 2000 in 1989 to a mere 42 in 2010. The downplaying of the number victims with severe injury is contrary to all information available on the health impact of MIC exposure and as per available data from credible sources such as the ICMR. As is clear in the plot, the percentage of victims with minor injury is highest in the current Curative Petition.

3.2       The figures of the number of survivors with permanent injuries as presented by the Government of India in the Curative Petition are at sharp variance with the figures of survivors with exposure induced illnesses as mentioned in documents by the Government of Madhya Pradesh.

According to the Government of Madhya Pradesh’s 2008 Action Plan, which we may need to remind you, your office has approved, the number of survivors with exposure induced chronic respiratory disorders alone is 100, 000. As per the same document “25 to 30 % of the survivors have neurological and mental illnesses as a consequence of the disaster. Further the same document mentions that 23 years after the disaster incidence of Lung, Eye, GIT and general morbidities was 4 to 5 times higher than a matched unexposed population.(Enclosure 8)

3.3      The information on the number of victims with permanent injury due to Union Carbide’s gases as presented by the Government of India is sharply contradicted by the figures of victims with chronic illnesses receiving treatment at government hospitals. 

The enclosed plot (Enclosure 9, No of Chronic Patients visiting gas relief hospitials from 1985-2010)  based on data presented in the Annual Reports published by the Department of Bhopal Gas Tragedy relief & rehabilitation, Government of Madhya Pradesh shows that in the first ten years of the disaster the number of chronic patients in hospitals meant for the treatment of gas victims has remained steady in the range of 80 to 90 % of the affected population. The fact that the percentage of population with chronic illnesses continues to be so high is a glaring testimony to the residual injury caused due to the inhalation of Methyl isocyanate. One needs to keep in mind that a sizable section of the gas victims in better economic condition than the rest would prefer private medical clinics over government run hospitals. These facts throw severe doubt on the Government of India’s assertion in the Curative Petition that 93 % of the victimized population has suffered only temporary injury.

3.4.      The information on the extent of injury caused to the victims due to Union Carbide’s gases as presented by the Government of India is based on a faulty system of injury assessment that was implemented only partially and that too in a grossly insufficient manner.

The information regarding extent of injury suffered by the victims as presented in the Curative Petition has been obtained through a process of Personal Injury Assessment or Medical Categorization administered by the Directorate of Claims under the Government of Madhya Pradesh. The scheme and guidelines for assessment of injury were based on the scheme and guidelines used in the assessment of injury and disability caused to workers due to occupational hazards. 70 % of the victims being women (with majority without gainful employment) and children the very basis of the scheme of Medical Categorization was wrong.

As per the guidelines doctors, contracted on per case basis, were asked to administer several tests and go through the medical records of individual victims to assign categories of injury and disability. As a consequence of this mode of assessment, the three most vital tests needed for assessment of exposure induced injury – Pulmonary Function Test, Exercise Tolerance Test and Urinary Thiocyanate Test were carried out on less than 10 % of the claimants.

Most significantly, majority of the claimants have not been medically categorized. According to the figures available from the Office of the Welfare Commissioner, Bhopal Gas Victims, of the 10, 29, 517 claimants only 3, 57, 485 or less than 35 % have actually been medically categorized.

Given the above verifiable facts, it is imperative that the Government of India desists from using Medical Categorization as the basis for determining extent of injury suffered by the Bhopal victims.

4. The Bhopal victims have received too little compensation so far and the Government of India has not kept its promise of acting in the best interests of the victims as enshrined in the Bhopal Act, 1985.

4.1. The amount of compensation per victim sought from Union Carbide under the Bhopal Act, 1985 by the Government of India has gone down drastically from the initial amount.

As the enclosed plot (Enclosure – 10, Compensation per victim in $s in different years adjusted for inflation as per 2010) shows, following the enactment of the Bhopal Act in March 1985, the Government of India sought a sum of 3.3 billion dollars for a little over 100, 000 victims. Subsequently, without consulting a single victim the government settled with Union Carbide for one seventh the sum at 470 million dollars.

Available records of the Supreme Court of India show that while initially the Government of India sought about 58 thousand dollars per victim as compensation in subsequent years the amount went down first to 8 thousand and now a little more than 2 thousand dollars per victim.

4.2. The amount of compensation given to majority of the victims is only Rupees 25 thousand which is 22 % less than the minimum payable compensation by the Indian Railways.

As per official records from the Office of the Welfare Commissioner, Bhopal Gas Victims that have been seen and unfortunately approved by the Group of Ministers on Bhopal, close to 93 % of the Bhopal victims have only received a sum of Rs. 25 thousand as compensation.

As shown in the house to house survey carried out in the community of Jaiprakash Nagar located right in front of the Union Carbide plant, 91 % of the residents have received only Rs. 25, 000 as compensation and only 0.3 % have received amounts greater than

Rs. 50, 000 for injuries caused by the disaster. (Enclosure 11 , Amount of injury compensation received by residents of JP Nagar (severally affected community)

As per records of the ICMR the community of  Jaiprakash Nagar was most severely affected and the highest death rates were reported from this community. Today, almost 27 years after the disaster every family in Jaiprakash Nagar has at least one member, often more than one, suffering from toxic exposure induced chronic illnesses.

Above we have described the injustice that has been heaped on the victims of the Union Carbide disaster in Bhopal. By continuing to present incorrect and baseless information regarding death and injury caused by the December 1984 disaster, in the Curative Petition the Government of India is heaping more injustice on the victims.

We would like to emphasize that our demand for upwardly revision of the figures of death and extent of injury is based on data generated by government agencies and facts presented in government documents.

We urge the Government of India to take immediate steps to rectify the figures related to the damage caused by Union Carbide as presented in the Curative Petition and ensure that the perpetrators of the world’s worst corporate crime are made to compensate their victims adequately. 

We look forward to your early response.

Thanking you.

Yours sincerely,

Contact: 44, Sant Kanwar Ram Nagar, Berasia Road, Bhopal, MP

At a press conference today five organizations of the survivors of December 84, Union Carbide disaster announced that they will hold a peaceful ‘Rail Roko’ (Stopping Trains) if their demand for ensuring adequate compensation to all victims of the disaster is not met within the next one month. The organizations who had organized a successful city wide bandh recently demanded that the central and state governments present correct figures of injury and death in the soon to be heard curative petition in the Supreme Court.

“The peaceful manner in which survivors of all walks of life came together for the ‘bandh’ is a testimony of the Bhopali’s collective spirit against injustice”, said Rashida Bee of Bhopal Gas Peedit Mahila Stationery Karmchari Sangh. “We are very hopeful that the call for indefinite peaceful ‘Rail Roko’ will receive similar widespread response from the survivors of the disaster” she said.

The organizations presented copies of letters sent to the Prime Minister, Chief Minister and Group of Minister on Bhopal in the last one year on the issue of wrongful denial of compensation to majority of the gas victims. “All we are asking is that the government presents figures of injury and death based on the report of the Indian Council of Medical Research on the health impacts of the disaster. These findings show that majority of gas victims are permanently and not temporarily injured and that the death toll of the disaster is about five times more than the official figures”, said Nawab Khan of the Bhopal  Gas Peedit Mahila Purush Morcha.

Satinath Sarangi of the Bhopal Group for Information and Action said that they are giving the government one month’s time, which is more than sufficient time to review and rectify the figures of death and injury in the curative petition. He said that the organizations were well aware of the inconvenience that would be caused to ordinary people due to the indefinite rail roko and are inviting suggestions for other equally effective mass actions at # 9826167369. He however hopes that good sense will prevail upon the concerned state and central government officials so that rail roko was no longer necessary.

Balkrishna Namdeo of the Bhopal Gas Peedit Nirashrit Pension Bhogi Sangharsh Morcha appealed to all survivors of the disaster who has not received adequate compensation to join the petitions to the Prime Minister and Chief Minister on this issue. The petition which will be submitted to the central and state governments in the next fifteen days has already been signed by over 10,000 survivors, he said.

Contact: 44, Sant Kanwar Ram Nagar, Berasia Road, Bhopal, Web: www.bhopal.net

Press Statement

The five survivors’ organizations who had given the call for today’s bandh (city wide shut down) congratulated the over half million survivors of the disaster for its success. They thanked the workers unions, traders associations and other survivors’ organizations as well political parties for their active support in organizing the city wide strike.

The organizations are demanding that the central and state governments present correct figures of death and the actual extent of injury caused by the disaster in the soon to be heard curative petition in the Supreme Court of India. Through the petition the governments are seeking compensation from Union Carbide, USA and its current owner Dow Chemical, USA.

On the basis of Union Carbide’s internal documents and findings of the decadal epidemiological research by the Indian Council of Medical Research, the survivors’ organizations are calling for a significant revision in the government’s assessment that 93% of those exposed to Union Carbide’s toxic gases suffered only temporary injury.

As part of the bandh all shops (other than medicine stores), restaurants, workshops  and other establishment were closed in the city and the main roads had no auto rickshaws or buses plying. The five survivors organizations said that they now plan to hold other protest actions on the same issue with voluntary and peaceful mass participation.

A rally was taken out by the organizers of the bandh from Peer Gate through the main commercial areas that was led by the survivors organizations and leaders of Bhopal Gas Peedit Nyaya Morcha and Bhopal Gas Peedit Sangharsh Sahayog Samiti as well representatives of Bhopal Transport Hammal Mazdoor Union and the Communist Party of India and Communist Party Marxist.

Sep 2011: Dr. Satinath Sarangi has been honored with Man of the Year 2010 Award by The Week Magazine. Satinath Sarangi has kept the Bhopal gas tragedy unforgotten in the past 26 years and remains the primary contact for those who are concerned about the victims. Sathyu (Satinath) has championed the cause of Bhopal gas victims and fought for their rights. He left PhD mid-way to help the victims of the tragedy. He is extremely humble and has spent his entire life to help the poor and down-trodden people. He has established ayurvedic, yunani and allopathic hospitals in Bhopal and still serves the victims. In thespirit of ideas worth spreading, TEDx is a program of local, self-organized events that bring people together to share a TED-like experience. At a TEDx event, TEDTalks video and live speakers combine to spark deep discussion and connection in a small group. These local, self-organized events are branded TEDx, where x = independently organized TED event. The TED Conference provides general guidance for the TEDx program, but individual TEDx events are self-organized.* (*Subject to certain rules and regulations)

Dr. Satinath Sarangi has been honored with Man of the Year 2010 Award by The Week Magazine. Satinath Sarangi has kept the Bhopal gas tragedy unforgotten in the past 26 years and remains the primary contact for those who are concerned about the victims. Sathyu (Satinath) has championed the cause of Bhopal gas victims and fought for their rights. He left PhD mid-way to help the victims of the tragedy. He is extremely humble and has spent his entire life to help the poor and down-trodden people. He has established ayurvedic, unani and allopathic hospitals in Bhopal and still serves the victims. In the spirit of ideas worth spreading, TEDx is a program of local, self-organized events that bring people together to share a TED-like experience. At a TEDx event, TEDTalks video and live speakers combine to spark deep discussion and connection in a small group.

]]> http://bhopal.net/blog/2011/09/10/listen-to-4-powerful-stories-of-bhopal/feed/ 0 http://bhopal.net/blog/2011/08/13/gas-affected-women-tie-rakhi-to-chief-minister-and-ask-him-to-protect-their-legal-right-for-adequate-compensation/ http://bhopal.net/blog/2011/08/13/gas-affected-women-tie-rakhi-to-chief-minister-and-ask-him-to-protect-their-legal-right-for-adequate-compensation/#comments Sat, 13 Aug 2011 18:15:37 +0000 curator http://bhopal.net/?p=8930 Press Statement 13-Aug-2011
On the occasion of the Rakhi festival 100 women survivors of the 1984 Union Carbide Disaster in Bhopal sought protecting of their legal rights to adequate compensation from the Chief Minister of the State.

Rakhi says: "Brother, protect our legal right for adequate compensation

Tying a redesigned traditional “Rakhi” on the Chief Minister’s wrist the women asked their “Brother” to ensure that correct figures of death and injury caused by the disaster are presented by the State Government in the curative petition pending in the Supreme Court.
The women pointed out that over 90% of the survivors had wrongly been categorised as “temporarily injured” because of faulty injury assessment system followed by the State Government.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

The organization leading the ‘Rakhi Action’ said that projections based on epidemiological studies carried out by Indian Council of Medical Research (ICMR) show that atleast 23000 people have died due to the toxic gas exposure so fare. They pointed out that for the protection of the legal rights of the victims of the disaster, the Chief Minister’s intervention is required to upwardly revise the figure of 5295 deaths as is currently the case.
The survivors said that the decision of the Group of Ministers to offer ex gratia amounts to less than 8% of the survivors was an injustice heaped on the victims by the Group of Ministers and the state government is partially responsible for this as it is represented in the Group of Ministers on Bhopal.

 

Rashida Bi: Bhopal Gas Peedit Mahila Stationery Karmchari Sangh 94256 88215
Nawab Khan: Bhopal Gas Peedit Mahila Purush Sangharsh Morcha, 9302792493
Balkrishna Namdeo: Bhopal Gas Peedit Nirashrit Pension Bhogi Sangharsh Morcha, 9826345423
Satinath Sarangi, Rachna Dhingra:Bhopal Group for Information and Action, 9826167369
Safreen Khan: Children Against Dow Carbide, 9303831487

]]> http://bhopal.net/blog/2011/08/13/gas-affected-women-tie-rakhi-to-chief-minister-and-ask-him-to-protect-their-legal-right-for-adequate-compensation/feed/ 0 http://bhopal.net/blog/2011/08/12/dow-tarnishes-the-image-of-the-olympics/ http://bhopal.net/blog/2011/08/12/dow-tarnishes-the-image-of-the-olympics/#comments Fri, 12 Aug 2011 06:42:46 +0000 editor http://bhopal.net/?p=9134  

29-October-2011

Make your voice count: Endorse the petition addressed to Chair of London 2012 Organizing Committee.

 

24 October 2011

Amnesty International writes to Chairman of LOCOG (Lord Sebestain Coe) and express serious concern on Dow Chemical as a sponsor to the Olympic Games.

 

Click here to read the Amnesty International letter to LOCOG

 

MESSAGE FROM BHOPAL SURVIVORS TO THE OLYMPIAN COMMUNITY

29-August-2011

Dear Olympians:

We are organisations working among the survivors of the 1984 gas disaster. We are writing to seek your help in urging the International Olympic Committee to dissociate itself with The Dow Chemical Company – one of the key sponsors of the Olympics, including the 2012 London Olympics. Dow and its subsidiary Union Carbide Corporation have refused to own up to their liabilities in rehabilitating gas victims and cleaning up the toxic contamination left behind in the Bhopal site. More than 150,000 gas victims are chronically ill, and 50,000 or so are too sick to even work for a living. Till date, more than 25000 have died as a result of exposure to the poison gases. The toxic wastes that lie strewn in and around the factory has leaked its poisons into the groundwater. More than 25,000 people have consumed this toxic groundwater for years, and there are serious health effects among these communities.

 

Both companies have refused to submit themselves to the jurisdiction of Indian courts on various matters relating to the disaster and other environmental fallouts. Union Carbide has even been declared a fugitive from justice by the Indian courts. Dow and Union Carbide are directly responsible for the massive human tragedy that continues to unfold in Bhopal. Children of gas affected parents, and those of parents consuming contaminated water have severe and debilitating birth defects. The Olympic organisers could not have chosen a worse partner than Dow. The partnership goes against the spirit of the Olympic games, and violates its commitment to justice, peace and environmental sustainability.

 

We request you to take a moment to read and  Endorse this Petition which will be sent to the Olympic organisers and other concerned people.

To read the letter and petition in Hindi, click here

You can email your endorsements to justiceinbhopal@yahoo.co.in or you can post them at  :  ICJB, 44 Sant Kanwar Ram Nagar, Berasia Road, Bhopal, MP-462001; Contact: 9826167369

Thank you.

Rashida Bi,Bhopal Gas Peedit Mahila Stationery Karmchari Sangh

Nawab Khan,Bhopal Gas Peedit Mahila Purush Sangharsh Morcha

Balkrishna Namdeo,Bhopal Gas Peedit Nirashrit Pension Bhogi Sangharsh Morcha

Satinath Sarangi, Rachna  Dhingra,Bhopal Group for Information and Action

Safreen KhanChildren Against Dow Carbide

 

BHOPAL SURVIVORS WRITE TO PRIME MINISTER AND PRESIDENT OF INDIAN OLYMPIC ASSOCIATION

12-Aug-11

The news that DOW Chemical will be branding and wrapping the London Olympic Stadium is disappointing yet sadly, unsurprising. The LOCOG (London Organising Committee of the Olympic and Paralympic Games who claim to be committed to sustainability, are willing to partner with Dow brings shame on the UK and yet again, on the Olympic Games and irrevocably demonstrates the ongoing influence of the multinational superpowers in global affairs.

 

Olympics are an event to promote peace. But, Union Carbide and Dow’s products are used in humankind’s war against people and nature. The International Olympic Committee could not have chosen a worse partner to promote its charter.

 

Want to know more about Dow Chemical’s Outstanding liabilities in Bhopal  (Read More)

11- Aug-2011

Bhopal Survivors write to PM asking him to write to UK government and LOCOG to reconsider their association with Dow Chemical Company, USA for London Olympics.    (Click here to read the letter)

 

Bhopal Survivors write to the President of Indian Olympic Association asking him to write to International Olympic Association asking them to reconsider its association with Dow Olympics.  (Click here to read the letter)

]]> http://bhopal.net/blog/2011/08/12/dow-tarnishes-the-image-of-the-olympics/feed/ 0 http://bhopal.net/blog/2011/08/10/bhopal-survivors-show-support-for-jan-lokpal-bill/ http://bhopal.net/blog/2011/08/10/bhopal-survivors-show-support-for-jan-lokpal-bill/#comments Wed, 10 Aug 2011 06:27:43 +0000 curator http://bhopal.net/?p=8800

Body of the effigy says "Corruption in Bhopal Gas Disaster"

Names on Effigy from right to left: bureaucrat, Govt. Doctor, Supreme Court Judge, State Minister, Dow & Union Carbide, Central Minister, Claim Tribunal Judge, Govt. Scientist, Govt. employees

Over 200 survivors of the Union Carbide disaster in Bhopal today set fire to an effigy of “Corruption in medical care, rehabilitation and compensation disbursement” in front of the Union Carbide factory.

Effigy on fire

The demonstration on the anniversary of the “Quit India Movement”day, was part of the national India Against Corruption campaign’s preparations for its mobilization led by Anna Hazare from August 16.

Banner reads: Wipe out corruption; will take rightful compensation

Banner reads: Bhopal Gas Victims are determined to bring Jan Lokpal Bill

Leaders of the five survivors’ organizations who organized the demonstration said that corruption at all levels of the central and state governments and the judiciary was a significant reason behind the denial of adequate medical care, rehabilitation and compensation to the survivors of the disaster. They said that a strong Lokpal Bill, and not the weak and ineffective Bill presented by the government, is one of the essential elements to put an end to the disaster that is ongoing for the last 27 years.

Survivors of Bhopal will be joining Anna Hazare’s fast and dharna in New Delhi as well as take part in solidarity actions starting from August 16 in Bhopal.

Press Statement 8-August-2011

At a press conference today, five organizations working with survivors of the 1984 Union Carbide disaster announced their action plans as part of the “India Against Corruption” campaign.  They will be holding a demonstration at the Union Carbide factory tomorrow at noon to condemn the anti corruption bill proposed by the central government. Survivors from Bhopal will be joining the actions led by Anna Hazare and solidarity actions in Bhopal from August 16.

Survivors of the Bhopal disaster said that a strong Jan Lokpal Bill is required to deal with corruption at all levels in the central and state governments and the judiciary. They said that corruption has been, and continues to be a significant reason in the denial of proper medical care, rehabilitation and fair compensation.

Rashida Bee, president of Bhopal Gas Peedit Mahila Stationery Karmchari Sangh said   “For the last 27 years we, Bhopalis, have been victims of corruption by Prime Ministers, Chief Ministers, Ministers in the state and central governments, Judges in the Supreme Courts and Claim tribunals, bureaucrats of all ranks and other employees, government scientists and doctors, and its time to start putting an end to it in right earnest.”

Balkrishna Namdeo, president of Bhopal Gas Peedit Nirashrit Pension Bhogi Sangharsh Morcha said that in the last 27 years, crores of rupees from the public exchequer have been misappropriated every year in the medical care and rehabilitation of the Bhopal gas victims. He pointed out that a former Minister of Gas relief in the state government who had had to resign in the face of corruption charges earlier, has now been rehabilitated in the state cabinet with three portfolios.

Rachna Dhingra of Bhopal Group for Information and Action said that in the government system of medical care, corruption in the purchase of medicines for gas victims is most illustrative of the failure of the existing systems to deal with corruption.

She said in December 2006 survivors organizations had carried out a citizens’ raid on two drug stores of the gas relief department. Based on the information collected during the raid, in January 2007  a submission was made to the Supreme Court pointing out that more than half of the medicines meant for gas victims were purchased from companies known to produce sub-standard medicines.

In March 2007, six survivors and supporters went on a 19 day fast and dharna, demanding supply of quality medicines and other improvements in medical care and rehabilitation.  While the survivors on fast are still facing charges for attempted suicide, nothing has been done to improve the quality of the medicines.

In September 2007 the organizations complained about the quality of drugs in gas relief hospitals to the Monitoring Committee set up by the Supreme Court. On 27 May 2008, the Monitoring Committee submitted its 7^th report pointing out that none of its recommendations, including those about improving quality of medicines,  had been followed by the state government. In its 7^th report, the Monitoring Committee asked the Supreme Court to bestow certain powers so that it could ensure that the state government followed its recommendations.

In January 2011 the Supreme Court asked the Monitoring Committee to list out the powers that it would like to have to effect improvement in the medical care of the Bhopal victims.

According to the survivors’ organizations, in March 2011the Monitoring Committee did draw up a list of powers that it would like to have, but due to the machinations of the corrupt bureaucrats and others in the state government, the list remains to be presented before the Supreme Court. Survivors’ organizations charged the Ministry of Bhopal Gas Tragedy with sabotaging the work of the Monitoring Committee so that it could continue with its corrupt ways.

Survivors’ organizations said that their recent investigation in to quality of drug supply shows that several Indore based manufactures known to be suppliers of substandard medicines such as Quest Laboratories, Deepin Pharmaceuticals and Zenith Drugs have continued to sell their drugs regularly to the Bhopal Gas Tragedy Relief and Rehabilitation Department from 2007 till today.  (Details of companies) They said that this was in clear violation of the Monitoring Committee’s recommendations in its 3^rd, 4^th and 6^th reports to the Supreme Court.

Please visit www.bhopal.net for recent information on the International Campaign for Justice in Bhopal

Thousands of Bhopal survivors came out on the streets and demanded urgent intervention of the Prime Minister of India and Chief Minister of Madhya Pradesh in claiming correct compensation in the curative petition pending in Supreme Court.

Survivors holding placards of correct compensation figures

Survivors also presented a memorandum of their demands to the Prime Ministerr through the Governor of Madhya Pradesh and a similar memorandum was also given to the Chief Minister of Madhya Pradesh

Survivors vow to continue their agitation until Government of India and Madhya Pradesh government presents correct figures of deaths and injuries caused by the Union Carbide gas disaster in the pending litigation in Supreme Court of India.

At a press conference today five organizations working for the victims of the December ‘84 Union Carbide disaster accused the central and state governments of downplaying the damage caused by the American company in the curative petitions filed in the Supreme Court. The organizations demanded that in place of Rs 3,000-6,000 crores the government should ask Union Carbide and its current owner Dow Chemical to pay over Rs 37,000 crores for deaths and personal injuries. The organizations stated that they will start agitations in support of this demand from July 25.

The organizations said that the injury categories assigned to the victims were unscientific and without basis and demanded that the government seek at least Rs 6 lakhs as compensation per victim from Union Carbide.

Satinath Sarangi of Bhopal Group for Information and Action said that recently their organizations have obtained TOP SECRET DOCUMENTS that show that Union Carbide was proposing a settlement within three months of the disaster. He said that because of its collusion with the American company, the Indian government introduced injury categories and later paid the minimum amount of Rs 25,000 as compensation to 94% of the victims with lifelong injuries by arbitrarily assigning them temporary injury category. Satinath said that Union Carbide had proposed payment of Rs 1 lakh for each death and six years later this is the amount that the government actually paid the Bhopal victims.

Balkrishna Namdeo of Bhopal Gas Peedit Nirashrit Pension Bhogi Sangharsh Morcha said that on the basis of the figures published by the government’s apex medical research organization, Indian Council of Medical Research, at least 20,0000 people have died till 2009. He said that ICMR’s research shows that between 1984 and 1989 there were 3500 spontaneous abortions as a result of gas exposure and these need to be included in counting disaster related loss of life. Namdeo said that in the curative petition filed in the Supreme Court, the government has gone against the findings of its own research agency and presented a ridiculously low figure of 5295 deaths as a consequence of the disaster. See attached Tables on Compensation and Categories.

Rashida Bee of Bhopal Gas Peedit Mahila Stationery Karmchari Sangh who is involved with rehabilitation of children of gas affected parents with congenital malformations, said that in the curative petition the government has not asked for any compensation for damages caused to the next generation of victims. She said that studies published in international scientific journals such as the Journal of American Medical Association and the American Journal of Industrial Medicine show that the poisons of Union Carbide have affected the next generation too. Rashida Bee pointed out that in October 1991 the Supreme Court had directed the Indian government to provide medical insurance coverage to the next generation of victims but this order remains to be implemented.

The organizations stated that the basis of the curative petitions filed by the central and state governments is that the figures of death and injury presented in 1989 were not correct. However these figures have not been corrected in the current curative petition so that the Supreme Court cannot provide justice to the Bhopal victims even if it wants to. The organization said that for the last one year they have been writing to the Prime Minister and Group of Ministers on Bhopal on the specific issue of deaths and health damage caused by Union Carbide in Bhopal but they have not received any response so far.

Rashida Bi,
Bhopal Gas Peedit Mahila Stationery Karmchari Sangh

Nawab Khan
Bhopal Gas Peedit Mahila Purush Sangharsh Morcha

Balkrishna Namdeo,
Bhopal Gas Peedit Nirashrit Pension Bhogi Sangharsh Morcha

Satinath Sarangi, Rachna Dhingra,
Bhopal Group for Information and Action

Safreen Khan
Children Against Dow Carbide

Bhopal Children take out a anti POSCO rally

The children also handed a posco-memorandum to governorto the governor in which they pointed out that struggle against POSCO was for 22,000 families in villages like Dhinkia, Nuagaon and Gadkuajang who would be rendered homeless and jobless because of the project.

The memo further said that Odisha government and its police were going all out for execution of the project. Amid mounting police atrocities against people protesting against the project, struggle of the children was a source of inspiration for all.

The children also demanded that POSCO project be immediately disbanded.

Safreen Khan
Children Against Dow – Carbide

Leaders of five organizations of the survivors of the 1984 Union Carbide disaster in Bhopal today condemned the recommendations of the government appointed Peer Review Committee on remediation of toxic contamination in and around the abandoned Union Carbide factory.

In a letter submitted to the Chairman of the Oversight Committee on Bhopal Environmental Rehabilitation, Mr. Jairam Ramesh, the organizations charged that the recommendations of the Peer Review Committee (PRC) were unscientific, unilaterally decided and were designed to help Dow Chemical get away from its Bhopal liabilities by paying a pittance for environmental remediation.

Goldman Environmental prize winner Rashida Bee of the Bhopal Gas Peedit Stationery Karmchari Sangh who took part in the meeting organized by the Oversight Committee today, said that two of the members of the PRC have direct links with Dow Chemical Company, USA that, as 100 % owner of Union Carbide, USA is legally liable for the toxic contamination in and around the Union Carbide factory in Bhopal.

She pointed out that the Mumbai based Institute of Chemical Technology, whose director Prof. G D Yadav is a PRC member, has jointly instituted an award with Dow Chemical since 2009. Similarly, another member of the PRC, Dr. Rama Rao is a member of the advisory board of InnoCentive Corporation of which Dow Chemical is a member. A third member of the PRC, Dr Arbinda Mitra works with the NGO, India US Science & Technology Forum, that was set up with 7 million USD from the US government, Rashida Bee said.

Satinath Sarangi of the Bhopal Group for Information and Action said that majority of the seven-member PRC have long association with the National Environmental Engineering Research Institute (NEERI) and the Council for Scientific & Industrial Research (CSIR). She said that the bias of the PRC is evident by its deliberate disregard and out of hand dismissal of adverse comments by experts from the Indian Institutes of Technology in Mumbai, Chennai, Kharagpur,  Delhi and Kanpur on the environmental assessment report by NEERI and other CSIR agencies.

According to Balkrishna Namdeo, President of the Bhopal Gas Pedit Nirashrit Pension Bhogi Sangharsh Morcha seven Bhopal survivors organizations had presented a scientific review of the NEERI report by waste management experts from The Netherlands, Australia and UK but the comments of these experts have been dismissed out of hand by the PRC. He said that the PRC has run roughshod over critical opinions of the Centre for Science and Environment, New Delhi, Hazards Centre, New Delhi, Greenpeace International and other non governmental agencies.

Calling for the immediate scrapping of the PRC’s recommendations and reconstitution of the Committee to ensure that there were no members with conflict of interest, Nawab Khan of the Bhopal Gas Peedit Mahila Purush Sangharsh Morcha stated that the survivors of the Bhopal disaster will not allow the implementation of the recommendations of the PRC at any cost.

He said that thousands of victims of Union Carbide will physically stop the transportation of hazardous waste till they are satisfied that they will be safely disposed off. He warned that any move to dismantle the factory structure will face the wrath of the victims who insist that the structure is conserved as a memorial to the world’s worst industrial disaster.

Press Statement

“Today will go down as another black day for justice,” Bhopal survivors’ organisations said in reaction to the Supreme Court’s order rejecting the curative petition filed by the CBI. “Further to the dismissal of the revision petition filed by three Bhopal organisations against Justice Ahmadi’s controversial 1996 order, the Supreme Court today has heaped yet more injustice on the Bhopal victims,” five organisations said.

In 1997, the Supreme Court dismissed a review petition filed by three survivor organisations without conducting even one hearing. The petition was against Justices Ahmadi’s order that quashed the charge of culpable homicide against the Indian officials of Union Carbide and instituted a charge of death caused by negligence.

Today’s Supreme Court order is problematic on many counts. First, by saying that the 1996 Supreme Court order was not binding on the trial court, it expects a lower court to act against a specific order of the Supreme Court. This presumption is entirely contrary to the universal practice of the courts. FIRs quashed by the Supreme Court are never reborn by magisterial acts. More importantly, the Supreme Court has ignored the gross miscarriage of justice suffered by the victims through the practical effect of the 1996 judgment.

Second, it has dismissed survivors’ prayers along with CBI’s petition on grounds that the CBI had neither sought revision of the 1996 order, nor provided sufficient explanation for the delay of almost 14 years. However, it has made no comment on the merits of the survivors’ review petition of 1996 given that their petition had been dismissed without a hearing.

“The accused are yet to spend a single day in jail, while 23,000 victims have been condemned to death with lakhs more suffering. The Supreme Court has allowed the convicted criminals to take advantage of the Government’s lapses,” said Rachna Dhingra of the Bhopal Group for Information and Action.

The organizations pointed out that the Supreme Court has itself proclaimed in the case of Zahira Sheikh that where prosecution fails in providing justice, the apex court could step in. “Nothing could qualify better as a failure of prosecution than the Bhopal case, why didn’t the Supreme Court step in do justice in Bhopal?” asked an irate Rashida Bee, President of the Bhopal Gas Peedit Mahila Stationary Karmchari Sangh.

According to the organisations, Keshub Mahindra and other Indian officials have committed mass murders in Bhopal. They point to documentary evidence that establish that these officials knew that the MIC plant design sent by Union Carbide, USA in 1973 was based on “untested. technology”. They said that in 1977 these officials planned and implemented cost cutting measures that made the hazardously designed plant even more unsafe. In 1982 Keshub Mahindra and others ignored the findings of Union Carbide safety audit that pointed out that there were 30 spots in the factory where a major disaster could occur.

“If Keshub Mahindra and other officials get away with a two years jail sentence, the lives and health of the ordinary people of this country will never be secure from corporate crime.” said Balkrishna Namdeo of the Bhopal Gas Peedit Nirashrit Pension Bhogi Sangharsh Morcha.

Injustice today at the Supreme Court.

The Supreme Court verdict on Criminal Curative Petition took everyone in Bhopal by surprise both in its timing as well as in its import.  Most people were expecting the order to come in July after the Supreme Court’s vacations. That is when the civil curative petition hearing is also scheduled for.

What exactly happened? Supreme Court by its order today,

a) dimissed the curative petition

b) upheld the 1996 order

c) issued a clarification stating that the 1996 order in no way bar a lower court Magistrate to frame a higher charge.

This is essentially what Mr. Salve, lawyer of the accused, argued for.

While, having seen the proceedings it was but natural for representatives of survivors to hope that curative petition will be heard since Chief Justice himself called the case an unuausal one and the other judges on the bench expressed angst at CBI’s delay in filing a curative. To now find the same Costitutional bench giving a unanimous order in favour of dismissal of the curative is both shocking and disappointing. The court dimissed the curative citing statutatory limitations and chiding CBI for delay in filing a curative. Bhopal activists are seen asking, “why should Bhopalis suffer because of errors committed by CBI?” Supreme Court in today’s verdict upheld the 1996 order while simultaneoulsy issuing a clarification that 1996 order is in no way a bar to a lower court. However, by dismissing a curative Apex Court closed its doors on the survivors who sought a final remedy through a curative.

Thus surprise soon changed to disappointment followed by disgust and finally anger. Because, people are realising that not only were they not given a chance to present their case  but also the entire excercise of curative appears to be a face saving effort for the government. Even if the curative had not been filed the matter would have followed the same course. That is to say, it would have been heard by the Sessions Court where the State and CBI had filed revision petitions prior to curative petition in the Surpeme Court. So, curative did not cure anything even though everyone agreed including the bench that this was a rarest of rare case, where gross miscarriage of justice took place.

What happened in the Court during the April hearings? Essentialy Lawyer of the accused, Mr. Salve  asked the court to dismiss the curative saying that a curative filed by CBI/State 15 years after the 1996 order is non maintainable and entertaining a curative will be a violating the rights of the accused. Mr. Ghulam Vahanvati, Attorney General speaking for the CBI/State asked the court to upheld the curative and reinstate the original charges to 304 (II) i.e culpable homicide. In the 5 day long hearing Mr. Salve alone spoke for two full days, Mr. Vahanvati spoke for 1.5 days, Jethmalani spoke for half a day and other lawyers of other accused who basically followed Mr. Salve’s line of argument in favour of dimissal of curative. Victims got chance to speak only twice, and not extending more than 30 minutes in total. On the first occasion Senior Advocate Uday Lalit  essentially asked the cour to not tie victims hands by specifying any charges and sought a clarification on 1996 order along with setting the order aside. On the second occasion victims lawyers had to almost argue their case in not more than 10 minutes where they urged the court to ensure certainity of delivery of justice if the matter is heard in the lower court through a curative by ensuring day to day hearings. Now it goes to a lower court but it is not through a curative and there is no certainity how long this entire process will take place before a final order is passed.

Meanwhile, victims have suffered prejudice twice. First when the curative filed by them was dismissed without a hearing in 1997 after the 1996 order and secondly now when a curative by CBI is held non maintainable on the grounds it comes 15 years too late. Victims feel in both these instances it is they who have suffered- first for mistake committed by court and secondaly by mistake committed by CBI. Also, since a curative can only be admitted once per order now all options of another curative by victims seem to be exhausted.

On the other hand, accussed walk away with a two year imprisonment without in effect having stayed in prision even for a day. And now they can fight in the lower court for dimissing all charges.

The Central Government that was forced to file a curative after the massive public outrage against 7^th June 2010 verdict  can now shift all blame on the Supreme Court for denying justice to the survivors. Supreme Court is in turn blaming CBI for not having filed a curative earlier. The fact remains Victims of MIC are now victims of government lapses, procedural errors committed by CBI and a Judiciary that goes back on its own judgment where it stated, in the Case of Zahira Sheih, that where even the prosecution fails to give justice to the victims it is the Apex Court’s

duty to ensure justice to them.

What happens now?

People are angry, community meetings are being organised since noon for consultation and announcements are being made in the city about organising protest in the evening. Soon after the verdict, the five organisations connect to ICJB organised a press conference to share their response  and to clarfy their stance. They called the day as a black day in the history of Bhopal gas victims, a repeat of 1989 settlement where a judgement was imposed on the victims without giving them a fair hearing and yet another example to show that victims whenever represented by State fail to get justice. They stressed that the fight for justice does not end here, rather it only begins afresh. Bhopal is not alone in this fight against a pro-corporate state. They are confident that people from across the country will join them in their struggle.

A torch rally will be organised in the evening today in Bhopal by the survivor organisations to express their outrage and resolve to fight for justice till the end.  “Yet another Black Day for us. We haven’t learned from our mistakes. We believed we will be heard and given justice by the Supreme Court which had announced the out of court settlement in 1989 and again quashed charges against the accused in 1996. But others must learn and note that people’s power is the only way we can get justice now in a country which is ruled by the roost”, said Rachna as she turned to making placards for the eveing torch rally.