Bhopal Gas Victims to Burn US flag on 32nd Anniversary of Tragedy

Bhopal: Five organisations fighting for the rights of victims of the Bhopal gas leak disaster on Wednesday decided to burn the American flag on the 32nd anniversary of the tragedy because of the "irresponsible behaviour of the US government".

Fighting for the victims, the Bhopal Group for Information and Action, Bhopal Gas Peedit Mahila Stationery, Bhopal Gas Peedit Nirakshit Pension Bhogi Sangharsh Morcha, Bhopal Gas Peedit Mahila Purush Sangharsh Morcha and Children Against Dow Carbide held a discussion with reporters against Dow Carbide company and its behaviour.

Satinath Shadangi of Bhopal Group for Information and Action, said: "The Union Carbide and Dow Chemicals are under protection. The reason that in the last two years, four notices were sent to the officers under Dow Chemical to present before the court which were neglected by the company. To escape from the responsibilities, the company is merging with another American company Dupont."

"There is anger among the victims over the attitude of the US government, for which on the 32nd year of the accident, the American flag will be burned on December 3," Shadangi added.

Bhopal Group for Information and Action's Rachna Dhingra said, "The state government did not work on the recommendations by the probe committee formed by the Supreme Court for victims and their children's treatment and rehabilitation in the last 12 years."

"Though 32 years have passed since the disaster, the reaction is still prominent as the poisonous pesticide is still affecting the babies born after the tragedy," Balkrishna Namdev of the Bhopal Gas Peedit Nirakshit Pension Bhogi Sangharsh Morcha, said.

The organisations said the chemicals seeping out of the company's factory is still killing and rendering people handicapped. They said the toxic waste buried under the ground is polluting the nearby water bodies.

It was on the night of Dec 2-3, 1984, that a toxic gas leak from the Union Carbide Corporation's pesticide plant in the Madhya Pradesh capital killed and maimed thousands of people. Victims of the Bhopal gas tragedy are still fighting for justice.