Four suvivor organisations for the Bhopal Gas Tragedy on Tuesday launched a campaign to highlight the plight of millions of people who are still struggling for compensation, justice, and rehabilitation.
The campaign named "Bhopal Disaster: 37 years; 37 questions" comes just a month ahead of the 37th anniversary of the tragedy.
As part of the campaign, the survivors will ask one question every day for the next 37 days, starting on Tuesday, over the aftermath of the disaster, Rashida Bee, president of the Bhopal Gas Peedit Mahila Stationary Karmchari Sangh said in a release.
"While both central and state governments agreed in 2010 that the American corporation had to pay additional compensation, neither has filed an application for [an] urgent hearing of the Curative Petition pending before the Supreme Court till today. We want to know why the governments have chosen not to get the petition heard for [the] last 11 years", Bee said.
The survivors of the tragedy have been fighting for adequate compensation and proper medical treatment for ailments caused by the toxic leak.
Shehzadi Bee of the Bhopal Gas Peedit Mahila Purush Sangharsh Morcha said that Dow Chemical USA, now the owner of Union Carbide's business in India, has grown dramatically in the last seven years.
"In these seven years, the company has ignored six successive summons issued by the Bhopal District Court to appear in the criminal case on the disaster", she said. "So our question of the day would be how can the Indian government allow a company that does not obey [the] laws of the land to do business in this country?"
Raising questions about the medical treatment being provided to the survivors, Rachna Dhingra of the Bhopal Group for Information & Action said: "Despite the passage of 37 years, the mainstay of healthcare of the survivors continue to be symptomatic drugs that provide temporary relief, if at all. So we will be asking such basic questions like — why no treatment protocols for exposure-related chronic illnesses till today?"
The campaign will also raise questions regarding environmental pollution following the disaster.