Survivors of the Bhopal gas tragedy have claimed that the Union government is claiming less in compensation than what it did 30 years back. While in 1985 the Indian government asked for $3.3 billion as compensation, it is now $1.2 billion in 2015, they claimed.
“In 1985, the Indian government asked for $3.3 billion as compensation that will work out to about $7 billion dollars today. Union Carbide has paid only $470 million. The least the government should be asking for is $6.5 billion. But the curative petition only asks for 1.2 billion dollars,” said Rashida Bee of the Bhopal Gas Peedit Mahila Stationery Karmchari Sangh.
Members of five organisations of survivors of the deadly gas leak who marched in a rally with torches on Wednesday on the eve of the 31st Anniversary of the tragedy have charged that the curative petition filed in the Supreme Court five years ago seeks “lesser” compensation from Union Carbide and its owner the Dow Chemical Company responsible for the incident.
‘Just one hearing’They also claimed that in the last five years there has been just one hearing on the curative petition and the government has not moved a single application for urgent hearing on the matter.
Balkrishna Namdeo, president of the Bhopal Gas Peedit Nirashrit Pensionbhogi Sangharsh Morcha, alleged that governments have produced “fraudulent data” on death and injury. “The government says only 5,295 persons have died due to the disaster whereas our own medical research shows that twice this number died in the first nine years itself,” he said.
Nawab Khan, president of the Bhopal Gas Peedit Mahila Purush Sangharsh Morcha, said the figures published by the Madhya Pradesh government show that there were 4,31,495 chronic patients in hospitals meant for toxic gas-affected people in 2010.
