Thaindian News

Bhopal, Dec 3 (IANS) At least half a dozen people were injured in stone-pelting by Bhopal gas tragedy survivors who blockaded rail tracks here Saturday to mark the 27th anniversary of the industrial disaster and police baton charge to disperse them. The protesters called off their stir after meeting Chief Minister Shivraj Singh Chouhan.

Five organisations working for Bhopal gas survivors blocked the rail tracks at Badkhedi and Nishatpura, before being evicted.

The protesters were agitating against the government’s allegedly false figures on deaths and injuries caused to people in the 1984 gas leak disaster when police evicted them, leading to clashes.

The chief minister agreed to all the demands of the survivors and wrote to Prime Minister Manmohan Singh, supporting the survivors demands, officials said.

“We gave a Jan 3 deadline to the chief minister to give correct figures before the Supreme Court or else survivors would again stop trains,” said Balkrishan Namdeo, an activist.

Due to the blockade, several trains, including the Hyderabad-Nizamuddin Southern Express, the Dadar Express and the Bhopal-Bina passenger train, were halted at Bhopal and Vidisha railway stations.

Activists claimed more than 15,000 people protested against the the false figures that the government had prosented in a petition pending before the Supreme Court.

Eight women protesters continued to be under detention for participating the rail blockade. Ten people were admitted to hospital after sustaining injuries during police cane charge, said a protester.

“Some anti-social elements got mixed with the agitators and they pelted stones at policemen. We lathi-charged them and fired in air too to disperse them,” Bhopal District Collector Nikunj Srivastava told reporters.

A few media vans were also damaged when protestors pelted stones in retaliation to the police baton charge.

“Since the last eight days, we are trying to talk to the chief minister, the chief secretary and the prime minister, but they are not listening to us. Just yesterday, the Bhopal district collector called us to talk, but they are only interested in preventing the ‘rail roko’, not listening to us,” Rachna Dhingra of the Bhopal Group for Action and Information told IANS.

“Police started beating the women who were protesting for their legitimate rights. The police even resorted to firing at protesters,” Dhingra alleged.

Asked whether they had taken any precautionary steps, Bhopal railway station manager A.S. Yadav told IANS: “It was the duty of the state government to tackle the law and order issue as gas survivors had already announced their programme.”

Hundreds of survivors led by activist Abdul Jabbar marched from Yadgar Shahjahani Park to Nilam Park and handed over a memorandum to sub-divisional magistrate.

On the night of Dec 2-3, 1984, the leakage of tonnes of methyl isocyanate (MIC) gas from the Union Carbide’s pesticide plant killed many thousand people. Government records showed 5,295 deaths, 4,902 with permanent disability, 35,455 with temporary disability and 527,894 with minor injuries.