India's plan to open chemical disaster site brings protest

His remarks offended many survivor groups. "It is like saying, 'I held a cigarette and did not get cancer.' Many of the chemicals at the site are persistent organic pollutants that remain in the soil for hundreds of years," said Satinath Sarangi, an activist.

Union Carbide settled out of court in 1989 and paid the Indian government $470 million. But many victims complain that more than 90 percent of victims received only about $500 each.

The site is now the property of the Indian government, but activists want the Michigan-based Dow Chemical, which acquired Union Carbide in 2001, to clean it up. Dow has said it is not its responsibility to clean up the site because it never operated the factory in Bhopal.

Gaur said $25 million has been set aside for a museum inside the plant. Survivors have demanded that they be allowed to determine the content and form of a memorial and museum. Over the years, they have collected countless artifacts and memorabilia of the victims and their struggle.

But first, they want the plant and neighborhood cleaned up.

"Every day we are fighting the battle for the real issues of inadequate compensation, shabby hospital care, pension for gas-affected widows and rehabilitation of people with permanent disabilities," said Abdul Jabbar, a victim who heads the largest group of female survivors in Bhopal. "But the government wants to enact a grand circus by allowing public tours inside the factory to divert our attention."