Farmers and warkaris of the entire area of Bhandara – Bhamchandra Panchakroshi in Maharashtra have been in struggle for more than six months now, since 16th January, 2008, against the construction of the proposed Dow Chemicals plant at Shinde village near Chakan. Organised under the banner of the Bhamchandra Dongar Bachao Warkari Shetkari Sangharsh Samiti, they have managed to successfully prevent the construction work for the Dow Chemicals plant. Crores of Warkaris, not only of Maharashtra but of the entire country have joined this struggle.

It may be recalled that the American multinational Dow Chemicals is at present the owner of Union Carbide, which was responsible for the Bhopal gas tragedy of 1984, in which thousands of people as well as future generations have been affected. For the past 24 years, people have been struggling for justice and punishment for the guilty, but Dow Chemicals has refused to accept responsibility for the Bhopal gas victims. Further, successive governments in India have not only taken no action to punish the guilty and provide for the gas victims; instead they have been criminally collaborating with Dow Chemicals. In the present case, the Central government and the Maharashtra government are trying to enable Dow Chemicals to take over land and set up its plant at Shinde, thus exposing our people to fresh dangers once again.

On 27th February, 2008 efforts were made to start the construction work, under heavy police protection. However, the villagers, farmers and the warkaris of this region, especially the women fought back heroically and held the police force captive for nearly 7 hours, forcing them to withdraw. However, reports from the region indicate that the police continue to threaten and victimise the villagers and coerce them into submission.

Faced with popular opposition, the Maharashtra government has been trying to get the construction work at the proposed Dow Chemicals plant site resumed, using an interim order of the Bombay High Court. It has been reported that on July 22, 2008, officials of Dow Chemicals and government authorities went to Shinde village and citing the High Court order, threatened the villagers that the construction work would be resumed under police protection.

The villagers and farmers and warkaris of the region have rejected the High Court order and are resisting the efforts to resume construction work on the proposed Dow Chemicals site. The Bhamchandra Dongar Bachao Warkari Shetkari Sangharsh Samiti, Lokshasan Andolan and other organisations, as well as many prominent individuals from the community have denounced the conspiracy between the government and the American multinational, and are preparing to fight back.