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Your Voice Counts for Bhopal! From pre-teen Yasmin to the wrinkled Madame Rose, survivors of the world’s worst industrial disaster are waiting patiently, but with the zeal only those who marched 500 miles from Bhopal to New Delhi could muster. Children want to be lawyers so that they can fight for what their government has wrongly denied them after twenty-three years of struggle. Remember the child in you … when you knew, just like Sarita
or Ajay from Premnagar what you wanted to be when you “grew up?” Put yourself in the shoes of a parent – what dedication they must have to withstand the physical and mental agony of a five hundred mile walk and weeks on the street in dharana. Can you join hands with these children, these parents? Can you send a fax, make a phone call, email a friend, sign a petition, hold a vigil, maybe write a poem? Let them know they are not alone? To send a free fax, and much more, please visit www.bhopal.net.Pragya Bhagat is a 6th grade teacher and volunteers with AID and Bhopal Campaign in Austin. AID Delhi hears the call Once the Bhopalis started marching to Delhi, we did whatever we could to support them. We held a photo exhibition and film screening at IIT Delhi, candle light vigils,and collected signatures on a letter to the Prime Minister to fulfill the promises he made to provide clean water, health care and employment, 2 years ago. We greeted the Bhopalis when they arrived in Delhi and rallied and discussed with them on the way to Jantar Mantar, where their dharana is still going on. I’ve also filed an RTI to the Prime Minister’s Office. I asked what steps Government of India has taken in the criminal case pending against Union Carbide and Warren Anderson. I also asked for copies of the correspondence related to the Bhopal disaster from April 2007 - March 2008 between PMO and Ministry of Chemicals and Petrochemicals. I asked for the list of children provided with insurance as directed by Supreme Court in 1991, and the number remaining to be insured, with reasons for shortfall. What steps is the PMO taking to withdraw illegally registered pesticides from the market? Has the PMO received any request from Bhopal survivors for a meeting, and did they meet, if not why not? Did the PMO receive copies of demands of Bhopal padayatris who arrived in New Delhi on 28 March? I asked for any notes, comments, letters, opinions or advice on the same. PMO has forwarded my letter to Ministry of Petrochemicals. Let’s keep seeking answers, in solidarity with the survivors. Support their struggle for the right to live! Selva Ganapathy works in IIT Delhi, and volunteers with AID in Delhi.
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