Pervez Bari | Clarion India
BHOPAL – Four organisations of survivors of the 1984 Union Carbide disaster in Bhopal have filed a writ petition in the Supreme Court seeking its intervention in the matter of compensation for the survivors. The petition seeks additional compensation for survivors of cancer and fatal kidney diseases whose injuries from gas exposure were wrongfully categorised as temporary.
Addressing a joint press conference of the four organisations here on Saturday, Rashida Bee, president of the Bhopal Gas Peedit Mahila Stationery Karmchari Sangathan, said according to the official records, 90 % of the 11,278 survivors who were diagnosed with cancer and 91 % of 1855 survivors diagnosed with fatal kidney diseases and paid ex-gratia amount by the government for the same, have only received a paltry Rs 25,000 as compensation. The information, she said, was received through the Right to Information.
Balkrishna Namdeo of the Bhopal Gas Peedit Nirashrit Pensionbhogee Sangharsh Morcha, said: “We are fortunate that former Chief Justice of Odisha, Dr S Muralidhar has kindly consented to present our case before the apex court. Earlier, Dr Muralidhar secured our rights to adequate health care as survivors of the disaster from the apex court and pro-rata compensation for all Bhopali claimants.”
Speaking on the issue of wrongful categorisation of exposure-induced injuries, Rachna Dhingra of the Bhopal Group for Information & Action, said: “Union Carbide’s own documents clearly state that health damage due to Methyl Iso-cyanate exposure is permanent in nature yet 93 % of the claimants for compensation have been considered by the official agency to have suffered only “temporary” injuries. This is the main reason for under-compensation of the victims.”
Sighting Supreme Court orders of 1991 and 2023, Nawab Khan, president of the Bhopal Gas Peedit Mahila Purush Sangharsh Morcha, said: “The Supreme Court has clearly said that any shortfall in compensation to the Bhopal victims had to be made good by the Indian government. Our case for additional compensation of at least Rs 5 lakhs for Bhopal survivors diagnosed with cancer and fatal kidney diseases is in a clear case of shortfall.”
On the intervening night of December 2-3, 1984 Union Carbide pesticide manufacturing factory in Bhopal had spewed nearly 40 tonnes of poisonous Methyl Iso-cyanate gas exposing over half a million people to the toxic fumes. While 3,000 people had perished virtually instantly and over the years more than 25,000 have kissed death and the sad saga is continuing uninterruptedly.
