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As you know, several dozen survivors of the Bhopal Disaster - the world's worst-ever industrial catastrophe - recently walked 500 miles on foot through the blistering heat of central India to meet with the Indian Prime Minister. Their demands are not new to the Indian Government; indeed many of them - such as access to unpoisoned water and medical care - have remained the same for decades. Many of the demands already reflect rights enshrined in the Indian constitution or in Indian law.
Far from addressing the Bhopalis demands, your Government has openly made moves to facilitate the business of Union Carbide's new owner, Dow Chemical. Union Carbide - the perpetrator of the disaster - is at-large, even while it (and its owner Dow Chemical) continue to profit from doing business in India. More than 20,000 people in Bhopal are forced to consume poisoned water. Medical facilities for survivors are poorly run, and survivors have to beg and bribe to access health care. Unemployment and desperation are at an all-time high. And toxic wastes abandoned by Union Carbide continue to poison people, and create a new generation of victims.
Why has the Indian Government dawdled for decades, instead of providing for the most basic needs of its own citizens? Why does India seem more concerned with appeasing a corporation - Dow Chemical -which continues to flout and scorn Indian law by sheltering its fugitive subsidiary Union Carbide from appearing for trial in India? Why were the Bhopalis, those sick survivors who spent five weeks walking to meet you, attacked by the Delhi police, with children arrested and old women kicked, stomped on and hospitalized? Why, even after all this, does the Government appear determined to force the poison-ravaged bodies of the Bhopalis to endure yet more physical anguish - an indefinite hungerstrike?
Do you care so little for your own citizens? For the lives and health and suffering of people you should protect?
I whole-heartedly support the 6-point charter of demands of the Bhopalis, and I firmly believe the Indian Government should as well:
1. National Commission on Bhopal: Set up a National Commission on Bhopal to address health and economic needs of the impacted community.
2. Provide Safe Drinking Water: Commit full funds to provide clean Kolar water to those drinking poisoned water.
3. Prosecute Union Carbide and Anderson: Set up a Special Prosecution Cell to pursue Bhopals outstanding fugitives.
4. Make Dow Clean Up and Pay: Properly assess the contamination and require Dow to clean it up.
5. Blacklist Dow and Union Carbide: Stop Gov't purchase of Dow products and Dow's expansion in India until Dow faces its liabilities.
6. Remember Bhopal: Do not undertake any activities to memorialize the disaster without full survivor support and participation; declare the anniversary a national day of mourning.
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BHOPAL