Chennai, March 3 (IANS) Expressing solidarity with the victims of the 1984 gas leak tragedy in Bhopal, activists Saturday organised a rally here to protest the Tata group's offer to pay up for and clean up toxic waste left by the disaster.

At least 100 supporters and campaigners participated in the rally to oppose the Tata offer to facilitate the re-entry of Union Carbide, in whose Bhopal plant the disaster tool place, and its new owner Dow Chemical into India.

The campaign comes in the wake of Tata Group chairman Ratan Tata's letter to the Indian government in January offering to set up a trust fund with contribution from other corporations to clean up the contamination in Bhopal, thereby freeing Union Carbide and its parent firm Dow Chemicals of the US of its legal responsibility.

In December 1984, a poisonous gas leak from Union Carbide's pesticide factory in Bhopal, Madhya Pradesh, claimed at least 22,000 lives and caused injuries to many more over the years later.

Several thousand tonnes of the toxic waste abandoned at the factory site has contaminated the groundwater in the area.

The survivors and campaigners have opposed the Tata plan as they insist that Dow Chemicals itself should clean up the site, as required under the law. They have also been demanding punishment for Union Carbide officials for one of the biggest industrial tragedies of the 20th century.

The Chennai rally that began at the Monroe Statue in Anna Salai was led Tamil Nadu Women's Collective members who carried placards and banners condemning Tata.

The Tamil Nadu Vanigar Sangam (Tamil Nadu Merchant's Association) also joined the rally and condemned Ratan Tata and the Tata group companies.

"Union Carbide is a criminal corporation that is absconding from Indian courts. Its new owner is sheltering it. It is disgraceful to see Ratan Tata openly serving as an agent to a company that ran away after causing the world's worst industrial disaster," said Sheelu of Tamil Nadu Women's Collective.

"Like Union Carbide, there are numerous places in India where the Tatas have contaminated and failed to clean up. If Ratan Tata is serious about his claims to ethical behaviour, he ought to clean up the contamination caused by the Tata companies before doing anything else," said Dharmesh Shah, a volunteer with the International Campaign for Justice in Bhopal.

Participants in the rally also included members of fishing groups, youth organisations and unorganised labour unions.