London: Amnesty International today (Nov 29, 2004) asked the Indian Government to prevent further damage to peoples' health in Bhopal as a sequel to the gas tragedy 20 years ago and ensure Dow Chemical cleans up the site and fully compensate the victims.

Pointing out the tragedy continues to ruin lives of surrounding communities and the contaminated environment seriously affects peoples' basic Human Rights, the Global Human Rights body said that the Indian Government must make a full assessment of the health and environmental impacts.

"A generation on, survivors are still waiting for just compensation and adequate medical care," said Benedict Southworth, Campaigns Director at Amnesty International.

"Union Carbide - and Dow who merged with UCC in 2001- have still not cleaned up the site or stopped pollution that started when the plant opened in the 1970s, meaning local residents are continuing to fall ill from drinking contaminated water."

The London-based group in a major report explained how UCC stored ultra-hazardous chemicals in bulk, failed to set up an emergency plan to warn local residents, ignored warnings about the possibility of a chemical reaction similar to that which caused the leak and withheld information critical to the medical treatment of the victims.

It claimed the Indian authorities failed to adequately protect their citizens both before and after the disaster. "Human Rights have been violated on a massive scale, including people's Rights to life and health. A framework based on the UN Norms for Business could be used to hold companies accountable for their Human Rights impact."