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Thursday, Jul 19, 2007
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Bhopal gas victims stage rally

Staff Correspondent

They demand that Dow Chemicals shift toxic waste to the U.S. for disposal

— Photo: A.M. Faruqui

Seeking compensation: Bhopal gas tragedy victims staging a protest on Wednesday.

BHOPAL: A large number of victims of the Bhopal gas tragedy, mainly local residents, staged a protest demonstration near the abandoned Union Carbide factory here on Wednesday.

They were demanding that the American multinational Dow Chemical that owns Union Carbide pay for the environmental and health damage caused due to reckless dumping of hazardous chemical wastes on the factory premises. The protesters opposed the Madhya Pradesh Government’s plans to send a small part of the hazardous waste for incineration at Ankleshwar in Gujarat and to Pithampur near Indore for disposal in a landfill.

They demanded that the Centre make Dow Chemical shift the toxic waste from Bhopal to the U.S. for final disposal in the same manner as Unilever was made to shift mercury waste from its factory in Kodaikanal in 2003.

The residents said that owing to the current rain, contaminated water from the factory flowed into their localities and the State Government did nothing to stop it. They said the 386 tonnes of waste that the Government wished to dispose of through incineration was less than 5 per cent of the toxic waste that required safe disposal.

The leaders of three organisations, Bhopal Gas Peedit Mahila Stationary Karmachari Sangh, Bhopal Gas Peedit Mahila Purush Sangarsh Morcha and Bhopal Group for Information and Action, that led the agitation said they had documents from the Prime Minister’s Office to show that the United Progressive Alliance Government was working on a secret deal with Dow Chemical on the matter of its liabilities in Bhopal.

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