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GoM
recommends Rs 1,500 cr package for Bhopal gas victims
Monday, June 21, 2010 08:25:47 PM,
Agencies |
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GoM report before PM
today: Chidambaram:
After concluding the fourth round of a Group of Ministers (GoM)
meeting on the Bhopal gas tragedy .....
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New Delhi:
A Rs 1,500 crore package for enhancing compensation for the kin of
those who died and those debilitated in the Bhopal gas disaster was
today finalised by a Group of Ministers (GoM).
The GoM, headed by Home Minister P Chidambaram, that went into a
whole range of issues, including relief and rehabilitation of the
victims, is believed to have recommended payment of Rs 10 lakh to
the next of kin of the dead in the world's worst industrial disaster
nearly 26 years ago.
Those permanently disabled or suffering from critical ailments
arising out of the deadly methyl isocyanate gas leak are likely to
get Rs five lakh while those partially debilitated will get Rs three
lakh.
These are among the recommendations of the GoM made to Prime
Minister Manmohan Singh in a report that will be considered by the
Union Cabinet at a special meeting on Friday.
Chidambaram told reporters after the final meeting of the GoM that
the Ministers have made "significant recommendations" and their
immediate focus was "to bring relief to those people who had
suffered as a result of the ghastly tragedy".
Sources said among the major recommendations of the group are a
fresh attempt to be made for extradition of former CEO of Union
Carbide Warren Anderson and filing of a curative petition in the
Supreme Court against dilution of charges against the accused in the
case.
The group is also believed to have cleared a proposal for clean up
of the toxic site at the plant in Bhopal for burying the poisonous
materials there itself. The job will be done by the Madhya Pradesh
government in which the Central government will provide financial
and technical assistance.
A sum of Rs 300 crore will be set apart for the clean up job, the
sources said.
The GoM is also believed to have favoured the take over of Bhopal
Memorial Trust hospital, set up in the aftermath of the tragedy, for
whose upgradation Rs 230 crore will be spent.
Altogether 5,295 people lost their lives immediately after the gas
disaster while 10,047 others succumbed to various diseases in the
following months.
Out of the 5,60,000 affected people, nearly 37,000 were permanently
disabled while the rest received minor injuries.
The fresh amount decided in the new package will be given after
deducting the compensation moneys given to the victims in the past,
the sources said.
The GoM, which was reconstituted in the wake of nationwide outrage
over the light punishment given to the accused, concluded its
four-day deliberations on Monday.
It is believed to have recommended that the government make fresh
efforts for the extradition of 89-year-old Anderson, who now lives
outside New York.
The government would also file a curative petition before the
Supreme Court challenging the dilution of the charges against the
accused in the Bhopal gas leak case. In 1996 the apex court had
reduced the charge from Section 304-Part II (culpable homicide not
not amounting to murder) to Section 304 A (criminal negligence) of
IPC.
While Section 304 II provides a maximum imprisonment of 10 years,
Section 304 A provides a maximum jail term of two years.
The GoM is also believed to have recommended to the government that
it pursue the civil liability of Dow Chemicals, the successor of UCC
world wide, by following up on a case in the Bhopal High Court in
its Jabalpur bench.
The GoM discussed various issues relating to criminal and civil
liability, relief and rehabilitation and remediation in the wake of
the Bhopal court verdict in the case two weeks ago.
"We have dealt with all issues -- compensation, legal and pursuing
the extradition of Warren Anderson, the legal options available to
the government of India and most importantly the remediation issues
and health-related matters," Chidambaram said.
The Home Minister said thousands of people continue to suffer due to
the tragedy and the Central government was "extremely sympathetic"
to their plight.
"We think we have made significant recommendations. GoM is not over.
It will continue to address any issue that will come up before it,"
he said.
Chidambaram said the GoM has also identified several residuary
issues which will be dealt with in the future meetings of the GoM.
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