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Last week in India, 300 Bhopal survivors were beaten and forcibly dragged from the offices of the Director of the Bhopal Gas Tragedy Relief & Rehabilitation for protesting their lack of safe drinking water. Twenty years after the tragic explosion at the Union Carbide Pesticide Plant (now owned by Dow Chemical Co.), and one year after the Indian Supreme Court ordered state government officials to provide clean water, fourteen communities around Bhopal still drink water contaminated by the Union Carbide plant. Contact the Indian state government of Madhya Pradesh and ask them to drop charges against the activists and provide residents with clean drinking water.

Bhopal is the site of the world's worst chemical disaster. In December 1984, Union Carbide's pesticide plant released a toxic gas that caused 8,000 deaths within a few days, and more than 20,000 in the years since. Two decades later, people continue to die each month from long-term effects of the poisoning, and an estimated 150,000 more suffer significant related health impacts. Residents are still seeking adequate financial compensation for their losses. Toxic chemicals and their byproducts also remain at the site and continue to contaminate soil and groundwater, but Union Carbide, and now Dow Chemical, continue to argue that they are not responsible.

On May 17, 2005, a group of 300 Bhopal survivors, largely led by women, highlighted the lack of safe drinking water in Bhopal by visiting the officers of the Director of the relief association. The police reacted by severely beating and dragging Bhopal survivors and their children out of the building. Five people were taken to hospital for their injuries and seven were arrested, including Goldman Prize recipient Rashida Bee.

Take Action: Tell the Chief Minister of Madhya Pradesh to implement the law for clean drinking water and withdraw the false charges against the nonviolent activists.

Read more: International Campaign for Justice in Bhopal

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