By IANS,
Bhopal : Survivors of the 1984 Bhopal gas tragedy, the world’s worst industrial disaster, and human rights activists Monday appealed to US President Barack Obama for “real justice” in the case and drew his attention to his tough stand on “corporate accountability” over the Gulf of Mexico oil spill.
In a signed letter, the survivors and activists urged Obama to help them get “real justice” in the disaster that struck the Madhya Pradesh capital December 2-3, 1984, killing and maiming thousands when lethal methyl isocyanate (MIC) gas leaked from a pesticide plant of Union Carbide India Limited (UCIL).
The letter heaped praise on Obama for his tough stand against BP over the Gulf of Mexico oil spill. They said: “Your (Obama) tough stand on the issue particularly about corporate accountability is worthy of emulation around the world.”
“We draw your attention to the bigger disaster that struck the city of Bhopal in India in December 1984 which killed over 15,000 people (official records) and about 25,000 (unofficial records) while seriously injuring nearly half-a-million people, said the letter sent by Bhopal Gas Peedit Mahila Udyog Sanghatan convener Abdul Jabbar and others.
The survivors sought that Obama should allow judicial processes to fix “responsibility of the corporations and individuals of the US responsible for the Bhopal tragedy” and work with the “same sense of collaboration with the Indian government on this issue (Bhopal) that you proclaim you have achieved with the Indian government on the issue of ‘global terrorism’ among other things.”