Dow Chemical - Quit India; Quit Shinde Vasuli

Sir:
I am deeply disturbed to learn that the Maharashtra Government has decided to
act against its own people to facilitate Dow Chemical's entry into India. I am
referring to the series of police atrocities and random arrests of villagers of
Shinde Vasuli, after devotees of the warkari movement demolished Dow's chemical
experimentation facility. The concerns of the villagers and the devotees of
Saint Tukaram and Namdeo are valid. A chemical experimentation facility, in many
ways, is more dangerous than a chemical plant. However, this "R&D" centre has
been cleared on the basis of a 5-page project document. Despite the criminal
antecedents of Dow Chemical and its subsidiary Union Carbide Corporation, your
Government has deemed this investment a prestigious one, so much so that you
have exempted the company from relevant regulatory requirements. No
environmental impact assessment, no disaster management plan, no public
consultation have been insisted upon for this project.

I am also aware that the Maharashtra Government is going against its own
orders. On the one hand, it has directed the Pollution Control Board to amend
the license to construct to include a condition that an EIA must be prepared,
and environmental clearance sought from the Central Government. On the other, it
has deployed armed police to facilitate the company in its efforts to commence
construction before these conditions are met.

You have also ignored the cultural and religious significance of the land.
Warkaris all over Maharashtra are now enraged that your government has violated
their religious sentiments and the sacred land of Sant Tukaram and Dyaneshwar.
Some of them took the initiative to destroy the construction site and openly
presented themselves for arrest. But your administration went after innocent
villagers, knocking down their doors and arresting them at random, in a bid to
spread terror and quell any resistance.

To think that the opposition of villagers is merely a law-and-order issue to be
settled by baton-wielding policemen indicates that Governments have failed to
learn the basic lessons of democracy. The resistance of the Shinde Vasuli
villagers, and the support to their cause by warkari movement leaders, has not
gone unnoticed. I, thousands of others, will watch and act if your Government
uses any force to suppress the legitimate voices of villagers protesting against
Dow Chemical.

I support the call for Dow Chemical to Quit India issued by villagers of Shinde
Vasuli, the survivors' organizations from Bhopal, Lok Shasan Andolan and other
groups.