Bhopal: Over 500 survivors of the 1984 Bhopal gas tragedy and victims of the resultant water contamination staged a torchlight march on Thursday to mark the 26th anniversary of one of the world's worst industrial disaster on Friday.
They walked from Bhopal Talkies to the Union Carbide India's abandoned pesticide factory which spewed tonnes of poisonous methyl-isocyanate December 2-3 night in 1984, killing over 3,000 people overnight.
The marchers demanded legal action against the Bhopal factory's parent company Union Carbide Corporation (UCC), its former chairman Warren Anderson and UCC's Hong Kong subsidiary.
The march was organised by five Bhopal-based organisations said which said the main obstruction in securing justice for the survivors was the continuing alleged collusion between the Central government and two American companies - UCC and Dow Chemical Company, which took over UCC.
"Dow Chemical that took over Union Carbide in 2001 has been refusing to accept the legal liability for cleaning up the contaminated ground water and soil in and around the abandoned Union Carbide factory," said Rashida Bee of Bhopal Gas Peedit Mahila Stationery Karmchari Sangh.
At the end of the rally, the marchers, including a large number of children, gathered around a statue in front of the abandoned factory to pay homage to the victims.
In the years that followed the gas leak in 1984, people exposed to the gas kept dying or suffered from life-long ailments and complications. The deaths in the industrial disaster are believed to have mounted to about 25,000 over the years.
On June 7, a Bhopal court held seven officials of the Union Carbide India plant and the company itself guilty of criminal negligence and causing the industrial disaster.
They walked from Bhopal Talkies to the Union Carbide India's abandoned pesticide factory which spewed tonnes of poisonous methyl-isocyanate December 2-3 night in 1984, killing over 3,000 people overnight.
The marchers demanded legal action against the Bhopal factory's parent company Union Carbide Corporation (UCC), its former chairman Warren Anderson and UCC's Hong Kong subsidiary.
"Dow Chemical that took over Union Carbide in 2001 has been refusing to accept the legal liability for cleaning up the contaminated ground water and soil in and around the abandoned Union Carbide factory," said Rashida Bee of Bhopal Gas Peedit Mahila Stationery Karmchari Sangh.
Advertisement
In the years that followed the gas leak in 1984, people exposed to the gas kept dying or suffered from life-long ailments and complications. The deaths in the industrial disaster are believed to have mounted to about 25,000 over the years.
Advertisement
COMMENTS
Advertisement
NDTV Impact: Madhya Pradesh Appoints More Doctors For Gas Tragedy Victims Few Doctors, Nurses In Relief Hospitals, Bhopal Gas Survivors Suffer 40 Years After Bhopal Tragedy, Disposal Of Toxic Waste Poses Cancer Threat Vandalism At Kolkata Hospital Where Doctor Was Raped, Tear Gas Fired 150 mg Semen In Kolkata Doctor's Body, Suspect Gang-Rape: Parents To Court 2 French Rafale Jets Collide Mid-Air, Instructor, Pilot Missing "Soldiers, Farmers, Youth. I Salute Them All": PM Modi In Speech At Red Fort Trump Speaks With Netanyahu Over Gaza Truce And Hostage Deal: Report Indian-Origin Man Jailed For Helping Friend In Singapore Football Scam Track Latest News Live on NDTV.com and get news updates from India and around the world.