Three Bhopal gas tragedy survivors' organisations have opposed West Bengal government's move to invite Dow Chemicals to the proposed chemical hub in Haldia after the state government failed to acquire land at Nandigram.
"We have learnt that the CPI(M)-led West Bengal government, under the leadership of Buddhadeb Bhattacharjee, has invited US-based Dow Chemicals to the state. We strongly oppose entry of the killer chemical company anywhere in India," Satinath Sarangi of Bhopal Group for Information and Action said in Kolkata.
Sarangi said Dow Chemical was evading a Madhya Pradesh high court order to deposit Rs 100 crore (Rs 1 billion) as advance for cleaning up hazardous wastes after the world's worst industrial disaster by its own arm Union Carbide on December 3, 1984
in Bhopal.
He was part of a delegation which came in Kolkata on Tuesday to attend a national convention on Nandigram. Some 21 members from the Bhopal Gas Peedit Mahila Stationery Karmchari Sangh, Bhopal Gas Peedit Mahila Purush Sangharsh Morcha and BGIA visited Nandigram and interacted with the villagers.
The Bhopal survivors also narrated their experiences about the sufferings and pain caused by the toxic chemicals of Union Carbide.