Survivors of the 1984 Bhopal gas leak that killed 15,000 people have won a small concession from the government with an ‘in principle’ agreement to set up a commission 

The Indian government has agreed ‘in principle’ to set up a panel to help victims of the 1984 Bhopal gas leak that has killed over 15,000 people till today.

Survivors of the gas leak at a Union Carbide plant in Bhopal have been camping in the capital for the last two months demanding justice. On May 29, Minister of State in the PMO Prithviraj Chavan read out a two-page statement authorised by the prime minister. The government is “in principle agreement with the demand for a specially empowered commission to carry out medical, economic, social and environmental rehabilitation of the victims and would soon take the initiative to work out the modalities,” the statement said. India would also press Dow Chemical, the US company that now owns Union Carbide, to clean up the site.

The statement added that on the demand of provision of clean drinking water in 14 localities near the former Union Carbide plant, a project under the Jawaharlal Nehru Urban Renewal Mission has been sanctioned at an estimated cost of Rs 141.8 million. 

The statement also said that the department of chemicals and petrochemicals had already filed an application requesting the court to direct Dow Chemical and associated companies to deposit Rs 100 crore as an advance for environmental remediation. It said the Union Ministry of Family and Health Welfare would be asked to continue research into the adverse effects of the gas leak on the health of the surviving victims through the Indian Council of Medical Research.

The top demand of activists has been the setting up of a commission to carry out medical, economic, social and environmental rehabilitation of the Bhopal gas victims. The statement said the government would set up such a commission but added that the state government was also being asked to prepare a detailed action plan for rehabilitation of the victims.  

Activists said they would send a letter to the prime minister with a final draft of the Commission on Bhopal Bill, to be passed in Parliament. The proposed commission will have survivors’ representatives and will function for the next 30 years at least.

Satinath Sarangi, an activist, is unhappy at the fact that legal action against Union Carbide/Dow Chemical has not yet been decided. “The PMO’s statement only said the matter of legal action against Dow Chemical on environment and health of the surviving victims is still pending before the Madhya Pradesh High Court,” he said.

The Bhopal gas leak is considered one of the world’s worst industrial disasters. For decades, survivors have been fighting to have the site cleaned up and proper compensation given to survivors. In an out-of-court settlement, reached in 1989, Union Carbide agreed to pay US$ 470 million for the damage caused, 15% of the original $ 3 billion claimed in the lawsuit. By the end of October 2003, according to the Bhopal Gas Tragedy Relief and Rehabilitation Department, compensation had been awarded to 554,895 people for injuries received and 15,310 survivors of those killed. The average amount paid to the families of the dead was $ 2,200.

Lack of political will has led to a stalemate on the issue of cleaning up the plant and its environs of hundreds of tonnes of toxic waste, which has been left untouched. Environmentalists warn that the waste is a potential minefield in the heart of the city, and the resulting contamination could lead to decades of slow poisoning and disease.

Union Carbide and its former chairperson Warren Anderson, both of whom face charges of culpable homicide and grievous assault, have been absconding from Indian courts since 1992. No fresh attempts have been made by the Indian government to enforce their appearance in court.

Source: www.expressindia.com, June 1, 2008
             www.hindu.com, June 1, 2008