Rep. Pallone (D-NJ)

Washington - Congressman Frank Pallone (D-NJ) plans to introduce a legislation in remembrance of the Bhopal gas tragedy that took place 20 years ago. He announced this while addressing a press briefing on Capitol Hill on April 26 along with the survivors of one of the world’s worst industrial disasters, Rashida Bee and Champa Devi Shukla, who won the Goldman Environmental Prize.

Leaking methyl isocyanate gas from the pesticide plant owned by the Union Carbide Corporation in Bhopal in December 1984 had killed thousands of people and afflicted hundreds of thousands.

At the briefing Bee, Shukla and Pallone once again called upon Dow Chemical, the American corporation that now owns Union Carbide, to step forward and take full responsibility for the company’s actions.

“Rashida Bee and Champa Devi Shukla witnessed the horror of the Bhopal disaster in 1984 and have dedicated their lives to an international campaign to seek justice for people struggling each day as a result of the gas leak,” said Pallone, co-founder of the Congressional Caucus on India and Indian Americans.

“I join them in their efforts to make sure the site is completely cleaned up and the survivors’ needs are fully addressed by Dow Chemical.”

“It’s outrageous that this year marks the 20th anniversary of this tragic event and that the CEOs of Union Carbide and its successor Dow Chemical still remain absconders of justice,” Pallone said.