Fast for a Cleanup in Bhopal

We, the undersigned, have each committed to fast a day or more unless the Indian Government makes a statement declaring that it has no objection to an order from the New York District Court, ordering Union Carbide to clean up its abandoned factory site in Bhopal. Most of us will fast on June 15th, when events are planned at nearly every Indian embassy and consulate in the country, but some of us will fast afterwards, in a rotating hunger strike leading up to the June 30th deadline for the Indian Government to make the statement to the court. Urgent action by the government is needed, and through our actions we hope to draw attention to the pressing need for a cleanup in Bhopal, and the Indian Governments duty to act NOW.

BACKGROUND:
The worlds worst-ever industrial disaster devastated the Indian city of Bhopal nearly 20 years ago, in 1984. Union Carbides deadly legacy continues to haunt the people of Bhopal. Toxic wastes abandoned by Union Carbide remain strewn in and around the factory site, representing an ongoing source of pollution. Poisons from these wastes have contaminated the groundwater serving more than 20,000 people.

After two decades of inaction by the company and the Government, survivors and residents from the contaminated areas filed a suit in the Southern District Court of New York seeking clean-up of the contamination by Union Carbide.

A March 17, 2004, order of the Second Circuit Court of Appeals in New York, USA, ruled that the survivors claims seeking clean-up by Union Carbide should be considered by the New York District Court if THE INDIAN GOVERNMENT OR THE STATE OF MADHYA PRADESH SEEKS TO INTERVENE IN THIS ACTION OR OTHERWISE URGES THE COURT TO ORDER SUCH RELIEF. The New York District Court has given the Government of India until June 30, 2004, to submit such a letter.


We urge the Indian Government to support the legal action initiated by survivors by writing immediately to the Southern District Court of New York and stating that it has no objection to a remediation of the plant site and groundwater by the Union Carbide Corporation. It should be the responsibility of Union Carbide, not the Indian taxpayers, to clean up the wastes that Carbide left behind in Bhopal.