More than 60 survivors and victims of the 1984 Bhopal gas leak began a trek to New Delhi on Wednesday to press for a clean-up of the toxic waste still surrounding the plant, activists said.
Forty more people are expected to join the 800km march from Bhopal in central India to the capital, a statement issued by the International Campaign for Justice in Bhopal said.
In 2006, the survivors went home after camping on New Delhi's sidewalks for weeks following assurances by Indian Prime Minister Manmohan Singh that he would look into their demands for compensation and clean-up of the toxic waste.
"Two years after his promise, the lot of the Bhopalis has gone from bad to worse," survivor Rashida Bee said in a statement. "Our effort this year would be far more difficult for the government to ignore."
The disaster occurred on Dec. 3, 1984 when a storage tank at the Union Carbide India pesticide plant in Bhopal spewed cyanide gas into the air, killing more than 3,500 people immediately. The toll has since climbed to more than 15,000, the government says.
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