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Bhopal gas victims await justice, demand early extradition of Anderson | Over 500 physically challenged persons demonstrated outside the US Consulate General here on Monday. They were protesting against the Bhopal gas leak tragedy and also
expressed their solidarity with the victims. Further, they demanded the early arrest and
extradition of the
main accused in the case, Warren Anderson who was the chairman of the Union Carbide
in 1984 when the gas leak took place. The protestors demanded answers from the
US government regarding the measures and steps taken by Washington in addressing
the plight of the thousands affected by the tragedy. "Anderson has not been extradited
till now. The Prime Minister should answer this, why Anderson has not been extradited.
We are asking all the handicapped people, the Bhopal gas victims, who have come
to the American Centre, they want to ask the American government, why Anderson
has not been extradited and why the American government has not been saying anything
about Bhopal gas victims," said Sadhna Kartik Pradhan, a member of Bhopal Gas
Peedit Sangharsh Sanyukt Samiti, a group fighting for the rights of the gas leak
victims. The demonstrators burnt an effigy of Anderson outside the Consulate and
shouted slogans demanding justice to be served to them immediately. "We are here
mainly for three reasons, first the chief perpetrator of the crime Mr. Warren
Anderson has to be brought to book and has to be tried in Indian courts and has
to be immediately arrested. Secondly, still a lot of wastage remains in the city
of Bhopal and thereby lot of polluting elements are being spread in the environment
and that is causing many disabilities till now. So, we immediately want that the
concerned company has to take initiative to disperse all those wastage and thirdly
in those 25 years no adequate compensation has been provided to the victims,"
said Anirban Mukherjee, a member of the Paschimbanga Gas Peedit Sanyukt Samiti
(West Bengal Forum for Gas Victims). The protestors also expressed their displeasure
at the compensation package finalised by the federal Group of Ministers (GoM)
for the victims recently. The GoM constituted to examine all aspects of the 1984
Bhopal gas disaster, had submitted the report the Prime Minister Manmohan Singh
on June 21. The GoM had dealt with all the issues - compensation, legal issues,
including the issue of the extradition of Warren Anderson, the legal options available
to the Government of India, and most importantly, remediation matters, and health
related matters. Union Carbide settled its liabilities to the Indian government
in 1989 by paying $470 million before being bought by another US company, Dow
Chemical. In the early hours of Dec. 3, 1984, around 40 metric tonnes of toxic
Methyl Isocyanate (MIC) gas leaked into the atmosphere and was carried by the
wind to the surrounding slums. Activists and health workers say a further 100,000
people who were expo. |
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