BHOPAL, 4 December — Bhopal, the state capital of the central state of Madhya Pradesh, which was the scene of world’s worst industrial disaster in December 1984, remembered its victims and sympathized with the survivors on its 17th anniversary.
Prayer meetings and mild protests yesterday marked the anniversary of a toxic gas leak in the town that killed thousands and has left many still suffering.
An angry group of people burned an effigy of Warren Anderson, the then chairman of Union Carbide, which owned a pesticide factory from which a lethal leak killed between 3,500 and 7,500 immediately and injured a further half a million people.
Union Carbide, now owned by US multinational Dow Chemicals, abandoned the factory after the disaster.
Victims of the tragedy and their relatives are still awaiting adequate compensation as most of the cases are tangled up in litigation. The main prayer meeting was led by the governor of the state, Bhai Mahavir, on the premises of the Union Carbide plant in J.P. Nagar.
State Chief Minister Digvijay Singh also paid tributes to the victims, reiterating his government’s commitment to settle all rehabilitation disputes. State Minister for Gas Relief and Rehabilitation Arif Aqeel, Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP), MLA, Babulal Gaur and Bhopal Mayor Vibha Patel attended the meeting.
The main demonstration was organized by Bhopal Gas Peedit Mahila Udyog Sangthan, the main NGO working for survivors, led by its convener Abdul Jabbar. This association of victims of the gas tragedy held a march waving placards to highlight their various demands, including adequate compensation and punishment for Anderson.
The rally passed through the cremation ground and the graveyard where victims of the tragedy were either cremated or buried.
But the ritual of observing the anniversary over the years has left the gas victims in the lurch as market places and shopping centers carried out their business as usual. And it seems that the victims are fighting a lost battle.
However, activists from the environmental group Greenpeace staged a protest yesterday outside Dow Chemical’s office in Hong Kong to call on it to clean up the water in Bhopal.
“Greenpeace and the people of Bhopal are reminding Dow, now the owner of Union Carbide, that this tragedy did not end in 1984,” Greenpeace China campaigner Miranda Yip said.
“Dow must take responsibility for its toxic legacy, rehabilitate and fully compensate survivors and clean up the hazardous mess that is still poisoning the Indian town and its people,” she said.
Protests were also being held in Switzerland, Netherlands, Chile, Thailand, Philippines, Argentina, and the United States, Greenpeace said.
