By Saji Thomas

Bhopal: The survivors of 1984 Bhopal gas disaster have threatened to burn the flag of United States on December 3 accusing the US government of shielding the Dow Chemical from facing the trial in Indian courts for over three decades of the tragedy.

“We have decided to burn the flag of US government on the 32nd anniversary of the gas tragedy to protest against the US government’s patronization to Dow Chemical and ignoring the cry of the survivors for justice,” Satinath Sarangi, a social worker in Bhopal said on November 30.

According to the Indian government estimates, about 3,000 people died on December 3, 1984 when 40 tons of deadly methyl isocyanate gas leaked from the chemical plant owned by the Union Carbide Corporation in the outskirts of Bhopal, capital of Madhya Pradesh state.

The death toll later rose to more than 15,000 according to the government data. The NGOs working among the survivors, however, contradicted the government statistics and put the death toll over 25,000. The government has also admitted the gas leak affected around 573,600 survivors.

The Dow Chemical bought the now defunct Union Carbide Plant from its original owner Union Carbide Corporation way back in 2001.

Now the survivors want the present owner of the defunct plant to compensate them adequately and made it party to various litigations that are going on in different courts in India.

Dow, however, has not joined the litigation on the plea that it was not responsible for the tragedy and hence, cannot be held liable.

A trial court in Bhopal, however, had declared Union Carbide Corporation an “absconder” in 1992 and has served four notices on Dow since 2014 directing it to appear before it.

“The US government department of justice has not served the legal notices on Dow and shielding if from facing the trail in Indian court,” Sarangi said. “This is not less than a criminal conspiracy,” he alleged.

“The survivors therefore decide to burn the US flag as a mark of our protest,” he added.

Earlier in August, they had burnt an effigy of US President Barack Obama on the same issue.