By IANS,
Bhopal : About 3,000 cancer and kidney failure patients of the 1984 Bhopal gas tragedy have not received the compensation amount directed by the central government, survivors said Thursday.
At a press conference by four organisations working among the survivors of the Bhopal disaster, several survivors diagnosed with cancer and kidney failure complained that they had still not received the ex-gratia amount of Rs.2 lakh announced by the central government.
As per the March 2011 decision of the Group of Ministers on Bhopal, these payments are to be made before June 2011.
Relatives of some patients said their application for payment of ex-gratia was not heeded and that the patients died before they could get the money for treatment.
The families of survivors said they had to take loans to meet the expenses of treatment.
Shaheen, whose mother Sitara Bee, died of lung cancer last month said they received no response to their application for ex-gratia amount which they had submitted to the office of the Welfare Commissioner on Jan 13 this year.
Sazid Ali said his father, a cancer patient, had applied for ex-gratia relief on Dec 16, 2010, but he did not get a reply till his death last month.
Relatives of Irfan, who died at age 34 of blood cancer in January, and Guddo Bee who died at the age of 35 of liver cancer in February this year, are yet to get any response from the welfare commissioner, Bhopal, to their applications for interim relief.
Rashid Khan, who has been diagnosed with throat cancer and is no longer able to work, applied for ex-gratia relief Dec 21 last year and is still waiting to receive the amount that he can use for his treatment.
Afroz Bee was diagnosed with breast cancer and applied for ex-gratia relief in January this year, and is still awaiting a response.
Sameena, 30, and Chhotu Khurani, 33, whose families have spent all their savings in their treatment for chronic renal failure have received no ex-gratia amount despite submitting applications at the welfare commissioner’s office in March and April this year.
“What good will the money do after the patient has died?” asked Rashida Bee of the Bhopal Gas Peedit Mahila Stationary Karmchari Sangh. She stated that while an estimated 3,000 gas disaster survivors diagnosed with cancer and renal failure were to be paid ex-gratia amounts, not a single patient has received any money so far.
“In 2010, four such patients have succumbed to fatal diseases and now it seems impossible that these people would be able to get their compensation till June,” apprehended Rachna Dinghra of Bhopal Group for Information and Action.