By Pervez Bari, TwoCircles.net,
Bhopal: Representatives of the three organizations working amongst people affected by Union Carbide’s poisons expressed their satisfaction with the response of the Group of Ministers, (GoM), on Bhopal after their meeting with the group in New Delhi on Thursday afternoon.
The organizations had led a march of 50 Bhopal survivors and their supporters from Bhopal to Delhi and have been on “dharna” (sit-in) at Jantar Mantar in New Delhi for last 21 days.
According to a Press release the GoM assured the Bhopal delegation that it would endorse and forward the Bhopalis’ demand for a special commission to address rehabilitation, and for legal action against Dow and Union Carbide, to the Prime Minister of India. The GoM said it would have the Law Ministry examine the draft bill prepared by the Bhopal organizations before tabling in the parliament. The GoM also emphasized that it has never conceded the Madhya Pradesh Government’s request for inclusion of 20 additional municipal wards in Bhopal as gas-affected. The Group clarified that it had requested the MP Government to submit data regarding gas-related deaths and injuries in the 20 wards. But no such data has been submitted till date, it said.
GoM chairman and Indian Human Resources Minister Arjun Singh said that a special commission for Bhopal is justified despite the lack of precedent for any such commission, because the Bhopal disaster itself is of an unprecedented nature, the release stated.
The GoM also expressed its support for the demand of the three organizations for legal action against Dow and Union Carbide. Indian Chemicals and Fertilizers Minister Ram Vilas Paswan assured the Bhopal delegation that the Government will continue its efforts to make Dow Chemical pay the Rs. 100 crores as advance for environmental remediation. Paswan also admitted that after the recent fire incident at a toxic waste facility in Ankleshwar that was destined to receive Bhopal wastes, any attempts to send wastes anywhere else in India will be met with opposition from local residents.
Representatives from the three organizations currently sitting on dharna at Jantar Mantar have till date met Ram Vilas Paswan (Chemicals and Fertilizers Minister), Chief Secretary to PM T.K.A Nair, Rajya Sabha MPs Rahul Gandhi and Sandeep Dixit, the National Secretary of the Communist Party of India D. Raja, the General Secretary of All India Forward Bloc Devarajan, National President of BJP Rajnath Singh, Lok Sabha MP Hanan Mollah, and Cabinet Secretary Chandrasekhar, the release added.
Meanwhile, it may be recalled here that over 3,500 people died in the days and weeks after toxic fumes spewed out of Union Carbide pesticide plant in Bhopal on the intervening night of December 2-3, 1984.
Officials say, nearly 15,000 people have died since then suffering from cancer and other diseases. While activists claim that the death toll has reached to 33,000 and toxins from thousands of tonnes of chemicals lying in and around the site have seeped into the ground water.
Union Carbide had accepted moral responsibility for the tragedy and established a 100 million dollar charitable trust fund to build a hospital for the victims. The company was later taken over by Dow Chemicals.
The company also paid 470 million dollars to the Indian Government in 1989 in a settlement reached after a protracted legal battle. The victims, on an average, received 25,000 rupees in case of illness and 100,000 rupees or so in case of a death in the family.
Michigan-based Dow Chemical says it is not responsible for the clean up as it never owned or operated the plant. The Madhya Pradesh State government owns the abandoned plant. ([email protected])