On 26th anniversary, NGOs accuse govt of continued neglect of Bhopal gas victims
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COMMENTS 
NGOs keep alive the memory of victims of the deadly gas leak in Bhopal 26 years ago, and accuse the government of wanting to forget
The anniversary of the world’s worst industrial disaster is observed in some form or other every year, though justice still eludes those tragically affected by poisonous methyl isocyanate gas that leaked from the Union Carbide plant in Bhopal on December 2-3, 1984.
This year, the dead and suffering will be remembered by a torch rally in the city, poetry recitations, and street plays. There will be a felicitation of survivor-activists who are over 60 years of age, a play by second-generation survivors, and a poetry recitation by local poets, said Satinath Sarangi of the NGO Bhopal Gas Information and Action.
On December 2, effigies of Union Carbide, Dow Chemical and others will be burnt. In the evening there will be a torch rally by survivors. On December 3, survivors will hold a mass rally and perform street plays.
On November 30, 2010, leaders from five organisations fighting for the rights of victims condemned the central government for its neglect of the affected people and its continued support to American corporations.
The five organisations are Children Against Dow-Carbide, Bhopal Gas Peedit Nirashrit Pension Bhogi Sangharsh Morcha, Bhopal Gas Peedit Mahila Stationery Karmchari Sangh, Bhopal Gas Peedit Mahila Purush Sangharsh Morcha and Bhopal Group for Information and Action.
The organisations said the decision by the central government to deny additional compensation to over 90% of people officially acknowledged to have been exposed to Union Carbide’s toxic gas was a grave injustice to survivors who have received a paltry sum of Rs 25,000 for lifelong injuries.
They also condemned the absence of any decision on registration of exposure-related death claims after 1997, when such registration was arbitrarily stopped.
The gas leak killed 3,000 people instantly (mainly poor people who lived in slums close to the factory), affected 1 lakh others and, over the years, has claimed 25,000 lives. The guilty have never been brought to justice thanks to political manoeuvrings, suspect court rulings, a tardy justice delivery system, and sheer lack of concern on the part of successive Indian governments.
In June 2010, a long-delayed court case wound its way slowly to an end with a Bhopal district court convicting eight accused (seven company officials, and Union Carbide India Ltd). The sentence for perpetrating India’s worst industrial disaster was two years in prison and a fine of Rs 1 lakh for the seven, and a Rs 5 lakh fine for UCIL.
The ruling momentarily galvanised the country. There were loud calls to bring the then chief of Union Carbide, Warren Anderson, back to India to stand trial. Questions were asked about how he was allowed to leave the country at all, in the aftermath of the tragedy. A Group of Ministers on Bhopal was reconstituted, which was to set up an Empowered Commission on Bhopal.
But, as activists point out, it was all hot air. “The central government has gone back on its word regarding the setting up of the Empowered Commission on Bhopal. Both in the meeting of the Committee of Secretaries chaired by the prime minister on June 3, 2008, and that of the Group of Ministers on Bhopal, June 22, 2008, it was decided that a commission with necessary funds and authority for long-term medical care and rehabilitation of survivors and their children would be set up. However, in its June 2010 meeting, the Group of Ministers on Bhopal chose to ignore this decision,” said Balkrishan Namdeo of the Bhopal Gas Peedit Nirashrit Pension Bhogi Sangharsh Morcha.
“The government has not taken the tiniest step against the corporations that have been absconding from the criminal case for 18 years. Despite promises made by the Group of Ministers, a fresh request for extradition of prime accused Warren Anderson remains to be sent to the US government,” said Sayed M Irfan of the Bhopal Gas Peedit Mahila Purush Sangharsh Morcha.
Commenting on the delay in filing the curative petition for enhancement of compensation, the organisations said that unless the central government presented a strategy for enforcing judicial decisions on Union Carbide, the curative petition in the Supreme Court would only serve to fool the survivors and deny them justice.
Source: IANS, December 1, 2010
http://www.forestlaneshul.com/, November 30, 2010
www.livemint.com, June 2010