On the 38th anniversary of the Union Carbide disaster, the leaders representing the victims announced a joint rally to be held at Jantar Mantar in New Delhi on December 3 in support of their demand for additional compensation
Pervez Bari | Clarion India
BHOPAL – Leaders of five organisations representing survivors of the Bhopal gas tragedy expressed the hope that the Madhya Pradesh government will fulfill its promises of presenting accurate figures of death and health damage caused by the 1984 manmade disaster in the soon-to-be-heard curative petition before the Supreme Court.
At a press conference organised on the occasion of the 38th anniversary of the Union Carbide gas leak disaster in Bhopal, Madhya Pradesh, the leaders announced a joint rally to be held at Jantar Mantar in New Delhi on December 3 in support of their demand for additional compensation for the victims of the disaster from the Dow Chemical, erstwhile Union Carbide. The leaders will left for Delhi later in the day for the rally.
Rashida Bee, president of the Bhopal Gas Peedit Mahila Stationery Karmchari Sangh, a trade union of women survivors of the disaster said: “On November 17, principal secretary of the Bhopal Gas Tragedy Relief and Rehabilitation Centre of the Madhya Pradesh government assured us that the state government will present exact figures of deaths and the victims who suffered a permanent and temporary injury in the Supreme Court. Since a similar promise was made on the 27th anniversary of the disaster without action matching words, we will remain apprehensive till they keep their word.”
With regard to other unfulfilled promises of the Madhya Pradesh government, Balkrishna Namdeo, president of the Bhopal Gas Peedit Nirashrit Pension bhogee Sangharsh Morcha, said: “On the 36th anniversary of the disaster, the then chief minister had promised lifelong pension to all the women widowed by the gas disaster. However, as per official records, 569 widows of the disaster have yet to receive the pension.”
He said, “If the state government again breaks its promise to present correct figures on death and health damage, it will be construed as misleading the apex court by the act of omission.”
An unkempt promise
Rachna Dhingra of the Bhopal Group for Information and Action raised the state government’s unkempt promise of 2010 of inviting global tenders for remediation of the contaminated lands near Union Carbide’s abandoned factory.
“Eleven years ago, the state government had promised to set up an expert panel to assess the environmental damage caused by Union Carbide and Dow Chemical and seek compensation from them. But the government has not done anything in this direction so far. The victims of the gas disaster can receive a just and fair compensation only if the state government presents correct figures of the damage,” he said.
Recalling that on the 26th anniversary of the disaster, the state government had committed itself to set up a special cell for close monitoring of all legal proceedings related to the Bhopal disaster, Nawab Khan of Bhopal Gas Peedit Mahila Purush Sangharsh Morcha said while the special cell remains to be set up as yet, it is indeed frustrating to watch the state government’s counsel maintaining a studied silence during the proceedings of the Curative Petition last month.
“We hope during the hearing on January 10, the state government’s counsel will argue for the revised figures of death and injury,” he added.
Trail of broken promises
Said Nousheen Khan of Children Against Dow-Carbide: “We are pained by the trail of promises broken by the state government, but will continue to hope that on this critical matter of securing our legal right to adequate compensation for the Bhopal survivors, the state government will deliver its promise.
She quoted Urdu poet Mirza Ghalib to depict the state of affairs of the victims “Humko unsey wafa ki hai ummeed; jo nahee jaantey wafa kiya hai (We have the expectation of loyalty from one, who has no idea what loyalty is”).
Meanwhile, the organizations of survivors of the Union Carbide disaster in Bhopal have expressed gratitude to the members of the UK Parliament who have signed an Early Day Motion (EDM) tabled in Parliament on November 28 last.
It may be noted here that 40 members of the Parliament, including representatives from five political parties and three independent MPs, have signed the EDM that seeks to bring those responsible for the disaster to justice, calls upon Dow Chemicals, the owner of the Union Carbide, “to urgently rectify the environmental damage and properly compensate the victims”.
The survivors commended the work of Bhopal-based journalist, late Rajkumar Keswani, who had pre-warned about the impending disaster much before it actually occurred through the tabloid he edited.
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Photo: Leaders of five organisations of survivors of Bhopal Gas Tragedy at the Press Conference in Bhopal.
