Tragedy continues in Bhopal as UPA tries to find a way out

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Nitesh Prakash

19 June, 2010

It is more than 25 years now after the Bhopal gas tragedy, will the government of India finally throw its weight behind the gas victims and secure justice for the victims of the Bhopal gas tragedy?

IT IS more than 25 years now after the Bhopal gas tragedy, will the government of India finally throw its weight behind the gas victims and secure justice for the victims of the Bhopal gas tragedy?

A meeting of the reconstituted Group of Ministers (GoM) on the 1984 Bhopal gas tragedy met in Delhi on Friday to consider options and remedies for a catalogue of grievances that have stormed the country's agenda. The reason behind recontitution of GoM was to look into the cleanup of the carbide site, now the group will have to prepare a charter that will adress several issues.

The GoM will hold daily meetings and is supposed to submit a report on Monday. The panel includes P.Chidambram, Ghulam Nabi Azad, Moily, S. Jaipal Reddy, Kamal Nath, Kumari Selja, M.K. Azhagiri, Prithviraj Chavan and Jairam Ramesh. The panel also has Babulal Gaur, the Madhya Pradesh minister in charge of rehabilitation, as a permanent invitee to its meetings.The meeting was also attended by the cabinet, home and foreign secretaries.

The issue of former Union Carbide chief Warren Anderson's extradition is expected to come up. Also on the agenda is greater compensation for the victims of the gas leak.The Ministry of Chemicals and Fertilisers has already taken action and asked the panel to discuss the cleaning up of the toxic site.

Concluding theFriday's meeting the govt. asked the GoM would adress the 'concerns' on the priority basis. Both Rajiv Gandhi and Arjun Singh have been blamed for not handling the issue properly by BJP and the CPI.

The GoM has been given the full responsibility to look after all the issues more specifically reaching out to those people who unfortunately have not got enough compensation in last so many years," said Information and Broadcasting Minister, Ambika Soni.

Law Minister Veerappa Moily has already met with the representatives of the Bhopal gas victim in Delhi, demanding speedy legal action against Union Carbide and its former chairman Warren Anderson. They are also demanding an independent inquiry commission.