Bhopal gas survivors to stop trains on 27th anniversary
November 25th, 2011 - 8:04 pm ICT by IANSBhopal, Nov 25 (IANS) The Bhopal gas tragedy survivors Friday said they will blockade all trains passing through the city from Dec 3 — the 27th anniversary of one of the world’s worst industrial disasters.
At a press conference here, five groups of the survivors of the 1984 disaster not only declared their Rail Roko programme, but also congratulated Madhya Pradesh Chief Minister Shivraj Singh Chouhan for his assertions against sponsorship of the 2012 London Olympic Games by the Dow Chemical Company.
On Nov 23, Chouhan wrote to the union sports ministry to register protest over the Dow Chemicals’ sponsorshio of the London Olympics. Dow took over the Union Carbide after the gas leak in the company’s Bhopal plant spelt tragedy Dec 3, 1984.
The groups also condemned the continued silence of Prime Minister Manomhan Singh and Sports Minister Ajay Maken despite petitions from Indian Olympians and Bhopal survivors’ organisations.
“Not only survivors, but at least 21 Olympians registered their complaints,” rued activist Satinath Sarangi.
The organisations also expressed hope that the chief minister will take steps to ensure that correct figures of deaths and injuries caused by the disaster are presented in the Supreme Court in the ongoing curative petition.
On the night of Dec 2-3, 1984, the leakage of tonnes of methyl isocyanate (MIC) gas killed many people. Government records showed 5,295 deaths, 4,902 with permanent disability, 35,455 with temporary disability and 527,894 with minor injuries.
The groups said that data from the central government-run Indian Council of Medical Research and the state government-run gas relief hospitals show the actual number of exposure-related deaths is close to 25,000 and that the gas victims have been permanently, not temporarily, injured.
They also pointed out that recent research by internationally reputed scientist Srinivasamurthy has established that 80 percent of those with mental illness caused by the disaster have not recovered in the last 27 years.
According to the organisations, the government should be asking for Rs.37,000 crore ($8.1 billion) as compensation for the disaster on the basis of the corrected figures and not Rs.3,000-6,000 crore ($630 million-1.2 billion) as it has currently done.
- IOA president asks IOC to remove Dow as Olympics sponsor - Dec 20, 2011
- Bhopal shuts down for gas tragedy affected - Oct 11, 2011
- Bhopal gas tragedy survivors call shutdown Oct 11 - Oct 08, 2011
- Bhopal survivors block rail tracks, call off stir (Lead) - Dec 03, 2011
- Not enough done for Bhopal tragedy victims: Activist - Jan 12, 2012
- Bhopal survivors beaten back from rail blockade - Dec 03, 2011
- IOA not to boycott London Olympics, to protest against Dow - Dec 15, 2011
- Protest needed against Dow sponsorship of Olympics: BJP MP - Dec 15, 2011
- Update death toll in gas tragedy: Bhopal survivors - Oct 17, 2011
- Bhopal gas tragedy survivors sit-in to move to Delhi - Jan 20, 2012
- Bhopal tragedy survivors burn Chidambaram's effigy - Jan 14, 2012
- Sebastian Coe's effigy burnt on Bhopal gas tragedy's 27th anniversary - Dec 02, 2011
- Help us, Bhopal gas hit tell Chouhan - Aug 13, 2011
- 'Parallel Games for disabled if Dow sponsors London Olympics' - Aug 08, 2011
- Distribution of gas tragedy compensation begins - but not for all - Dec 17, 2010
Tags: ajay maken, bhopal gas tragedy, bhopal survivors, chief minister, dow chemical, dow chemical company, dow chemicals, gas leak, gas relief, government records, indian olympians, industrial disasters, london olympics, methyl isocyanate, minor injuries, olympic games, rail roko, sports ministry, union carbide, union sports