At a rally organised to observer the 30th anniversary of the Union Carbide disaster here, five organisations of survivors have appealed to the people all over the world to put pressure on responsible parties to end the disasters in their fourth decade.
They also asked supporters to help make Union Carbide, USA and its 100 per cent owner Dow Chemical acknowledge its roles in the continuing human suffering in Bhopal and make amends so that a holistic goal of ending the disaster by 2024 can be achieved.
The organisations said that the Governments of USA and India were directly responsible for neglecting the ongoing tragedy caused by the world’s worst industrial disaster. They charged both the Governments of protecting corporate interests over the lives and health of ordinary people and sought reflection and course correction for ending the disaster.
In a letter addressed to US President Barack Obama, the survivors’ organisations asked that his Administration to acknowledge the central role played by the United States Government in the creation of the disaster in Bhopal and in the denial of justice to the victims.
Rashida Bee, president of the Bhopal Gas Peedit Mahila Stationery Karmchari Sangh said that Wikileaks documents showed that then National Security Advisor and Secretary of State, Henry Kissinger, had facilitated an EXIM Bank loan for Union Carbide to set up the Methyl Isocyanate plant that caused the disaster in Bhopal. She also presented a letter obtained under the Right to Information Act from the office of the Indian Prime Minister that showed that Kissinger used his influence to help Union Carbide get away by paying a paltry compensation amount.
“Obama made British Petroleum pay $20 billion for the Gulf of Mexico oil spill. We would like to ask him how his conscience allows him to support two US corporations that paid a tiny fraction of that amount for two thousand times more fatalities.” said Balkrishna Namdeo of the Bhopal Gas Peedit Nirashrit Pensionbhogee Sangharsh Morcha.
Rachna Dhingra of Bhopal Group for Information and Action said that leaders of the five organizations will soon be meeting with the officials of the Ministry of Chemicals and Fertilizers for implementation of the decisions taken on the matter of additional compensation from the Indian government and from the two US corporations.