The Union Law Ministry has suggested that the Group of Ministers looking into the Bhopal gas tragedy set up a special commission to address the issues of the victims and their children over the next 30 years.
The commission should be entrusted with medical care, research and monitoring, social and economic rehabilitation, environmental remediation and provision of safe drinking water.
The note says: “As most of these steps fall within the purview of the legislative/executive power of the state, possibly a high-power body can be constituted, comprising officials of the Central and State governments, representatives of the victims, some of the non-governmental organisations, and headed by eminent experts. This will avoid any friction between the Central and State governments, as well as other complications in a federal structure.
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“The matter of fixing liability of Dow Chemicals with regard to providing compensation for clean-up operations/remediation measures initiated at the Union Carbide India Limited should be vigorously pursued before the Madhya Pradesh High Court.”
As for the remedial measures, it says: “The first issue would be to provide safe drinking water and assure the people of Bhopal that contamination of the groundwater would be remedied, in close coordination with the Madhya Pradesh government, to enable the residents to use the groundwater for drinking purposes.
“The UPA [United Progressive Alliance] government has earlier sanctioned a project under the JNNURM (Jawaharlal Nehru National Urban Renewal Mission) at an estimated cost of Rs.14.18 crore in April 2006 to the Bhopal Municipal Corporation for providing safe drinking water, through pipelines from the Kolar reservoir, to 14 localities in and around the UCIL plant site. Apart from monitoring the progress, comprehensive remedial measures should be taken urgently for removing contamination/toxic waste from groundwater, in consultation with agencies and the State government, within a stipulated time frame.
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“The second aspect of remediation which requires attention is removal and disposal of toxic waste from on and around the plant site. The estimated quantity of toxic waste is 390 tonnes, of which 40 tonnes of lime sludge was disposed of in June 2008. The issue for consideration is the disposal of the remaining 350 tonnes, for which an incinerator has already been set up at Pithampur in Indore. It should be ensured that the incinerator is fully functional within a time frame, and that 350 tonnes of waste is disposed of.”