The Goldman Environmental Prize worth 125,000 dollars was due to be presented in San Francisco Monday to two former domestic workers, Rashida Bee and Champa Devi Shukla.

The award cited their "courage and tenacity" in fighting for compensation for victims of a poison gas leak from a Union Carbide pesticide factory in the central Indian city of Bhopal that killed almost 2,000 people instantly.

Victims' groups say at least 10,000 more have since died from the gas leak.

"We will use the money from this Goldman award to help people who are wracked with illness from the gas leak," 52-year-old Shukla said just before leaving with Bee for San Francisco to collect the award.

The Goldman Environmental Prize, founded by US insurance executive Richard Goldman in 1990, is the world's largest prize honoring grassroots environmental "heroes" from six continental regions. The other winners were due to be announced later Monday.

"Despite their poverty and poor health due to toxic gas exposure, Bee and Shukla have emerged as leaders in the global fight to hold Dow Chemicals accountable for the infamous 1984 Union Carbide gas leak," said the citation.

"Together, they have made the struggle for justice for the survivors of Bhopal a powerful validation of women's role on the frontlines of India's civil society," it added.

More than half a million people were seriously injured when gas leaked from the factory in Bhopal on the night of December 3, 1984. Union Carbide became a wholly owned subsidiary of US-based Dow Chemicals in 1999.

Nearly all those who survived the gas leak have breathing problems, making them incapable of heavy physical work. Another 120,000 to 150,000 suffer from chronic diseases such as tuberculosis and cancer.

"For many it is still a struggle to make ends meet with the measly compensation amount that they have received so far. They have huge medical bills. No money to pay them or get further treatment," said Shukla.

"Two generations after me are also severely affected."

Bee and Shukla are plaintiffs in a class action suit demanding a clean-up of the noxious factory site and damages to cover medical monitoring and costs incurred from years of soil and water contamination.

"This award is a victory for all the survivors of the Bhopal disaster. We may be poor and illiterate but that does not mean that a US multinational can get away with murder," said 48-year-old Bee.

"The progress in the legal case is so slow that sometimes one feels like giving up. Then an award like this teaches us to keep our spirits up. We have to get Dow Chemicals to clean up Bhopal's ground water," she said.

Environmental group Greenpeace, campaigning on behalf of the victims, has alleged that Dow Chemicals has not taken any steps to alleviate the human misery in Bhopal after taking over the assets of Union Carbide.

Union Carbide has said it gave compensation in 1989 to the victims by settling personal injury and related claims when it paid 470 million dollars to India's government on the victims' behalf.

But Greenpeace said people who live around the factory where the deadly gas leak occurred are still using ground water contaminated with toxic pollutants.

Ten to 15 people continue to die every month from illnesses related to exposure to the toxic gases, Greenpeace says.

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