The Hindu : National : Let the law take its course, Bhopal gas victims urge PM

Online edition of India's National Newspaper
Sunday, Jun 01, 2008
ePaper | Mobile/PDA Version

National

National

Let the law take its course, Bhopal gas victims urge PM

Special Correspondent

Empower rehabilitation commission by Act of Parliament

NEW DELHI: Reiterating their demand for legal action against Dow Chemicals and Union Carbide, organisations representing survivors and victims of the Bhopal gas leak tragedy have appealed to Prime Minister Manmohan Singh to help law take its course.

Thousands of people died when a toxic gas leaked out of Union Carbide’s plant in the Madhya Pradesh capital in December 1984. The company has since merged with Dow Chemicals.

In a letter to Dr. Singh, the survivors said their demands for extradition of Warren Anderson, chief executive officer of Union Carbide at the time of the industrial disaster; deregistering the pesticides Dursban, Nurelle and Pride; and revoking the licence granted to Reliance to import Union Carbide’s Unipol technology were legally mandated.

“By asking you to meet them, we’re merely demanding that the government assist the law in taking its course.”

In 1992, the Bhopal Chief Judicial Magistrate ordered the Centre to initiate extradition proceedings for the appearance of Mr. Anderson and Union Carbide’s representative in court. But no concerted effort was made to bring them to India. While thanking the Prime Minister for agreeing to set up a special rehabilitation commission, the organisations, however, said this announcement was devoid of crucial details such as its budget and lifetime. The commission must extend rehabilitation to water-affected persons and be assured of a Rs. 2,000-crore corpus to enable its functioning over a minimum of 30 years.

Also, the commission should be empowered by an Act of Parliament. The draft bill might be finalised in consultation with survivor organisations and tabled in Parliament in the monsoon session.

“Ready to stay put”

“We are hopeful that all our demands will be met after the government’s June 3 high-level meeting. But we are prepared to remain here as long as it takes to ensure that India’s interests are not sacrificed to placate Dow Chemical and the corporate lobby,” the letter said.

The signatories are the Bhopal Gas Peedit Mahila Stationery Karmachari Sangh, the Bhopal Gas Peedit Mahila Purush Sangarsh Morcha and the Bhopal Group for Information and Action.

Printer friendly page
Send this article to Friends by E-Mail

National