December 04, 2007	Tuesday	Ziqa'ad 23, 1428

NEW DELHI: More than a hundred survivors of the 1984 Bhopal gas leak in India are to march on New Delhi to press for damages and the clean-up of contaminated soil, activists said on Monday.This is the second time in as many years that survivors of the industrial disaster will undertake the 800-kilometre march from Bhopal in central India to the Indian capital. The march is planned for February.

“It will take them more than a month to reach Delhi,” said activist Shalini Sharma of the International Campaign for Justice in Bhopal.

Last year, survivors went home after camping on Delhi streets for weeks after assurances by Prime Minister Manmohan Singh, but activists said the state government was yet to act.

Leading activists on Monday accused the Indian government of trying to bail Dow Chemical out with an eye on lucrative investments. “Dow has promised to invest a billion dollars in India. At what cost are we willing to accept this investment,” said columnist Kuldeep Nayar.—AFP