By IANS,
Bhopal : The Bhopal bandh called Tuesday by five organizations for the first time in their fight for justice since 27 years of the gas tragedy got good response as most of the shops remained closed and vehicles did not ply on the roads, said agitators.
The survivors are demanding that the state and central government present the correct figure before the Supreme Court which has to hear a curative petition on the compensation to gas victims.
The bandh is supported by the Congress party and several trade union organizations.
Members of the Congress party had organised a rally Monday supporting the shutdown. The spokesperson of the party for Madhya Pradesh also blamed the state government for denying compensation to about five lakh victims.
“The shutdown was called to put pressure on the government to present actual figures of health damage caused in the disaster at the Union Carbide plant,” said Rachna Dhingra of Bhopal Group for Action and Information.
On the night of Dec 2-3, 1984, leakage of deadly methyl isocyanate (MIC) gas killed thousands of people. Government records showed 5,295 deaths, 4,902 with permanent disability, 35,455 with temporary disability and 527,894 with minor injuries.
According to organizations working for the cause, 22,917 people had died till 2009, 5,08,437 people became permanently disabled and 33,781 others received severe injuries.
The strike was called by five organizations including Bhopal Gas Peedit Mahila Stationery Karmachari Sangh, Bhopal Gas Peedit Mahila Purush Sangharsh Morcha, Bhopal Gas Peedit Nirashrit Pension Bhogi Sangharsh Morcha, Children Against Dow-Carbide and Bhopal Group for Information and Action.