26 years on, govt wants justice for Bhopal

Curative petition will ask for criminal liability for accused, Andersen extradition and cleaning up of toxic waste

PTI | June 21, 2010



The GoM on Bhopal gas tragedy is understood to have today decided to recommend filing of a curative petition in the Supreme Court to fix criminal liability, seek extradition of former UCC CEO Warren Anderson and cleaning up the complex by burying the toxic waste.

Official sources said the curative petition will focus on criminal liability of the accused and seek more stringent charges as the apex court had diluted the IPC section under culpable homicide not amounting to murder against the accused to negligence on their part.

Headed by home minister P Chidambaram, the Group of Ministers, which met for the third consecutive day today, also favoured approaching the United States to seek extradition of former Union Carbide chief to face trial in India in the Bhopal gas disaster case. The tragedy, which occurred in the intervening night of December 2-3, 1984, has left over 15,000 people dead and thousands maimed.

The GoM is also likely to recommend the burying of contaminated soil at the site itself in a scientific manner and the Madhya Pradesh government will carry out the task for which the Central government will provide financial and technical assistance, the sources said.

Chidambaram told reporters after the meeting that the GoM has covered all the subjects that were identified and is expected to submit its report to the Prime Minister Manmohan Singh tomorrow.

"The minutes are being drawn up. Tomorrow, the GoM will meet again to finalise the minutes -- finalise the recommendations and conclusions. I expect to send the report to the Prime Minister tomorrow afternoon," he said.

Chidambaram said the fourth and final session of the GoM today discussed remediation and environmental issues.

"Remediation of contaminated soil, contaminated water, the toxic waste that are at the site and the corroded plant, the corroded steel and other material," he said.

The sources said the GoM extensively discussed the issue of providing additional compensation to the victims as the relief given so far was inadequate.

The compensation should be based on health classification like injuries suffered and the after effects of exposure to poisonous chemicals including cancer, long term diseases, disability and death of next of kin.

Members are understood to have discussed the need for setting up a special task force to supervise and to ensure cleaning of toxic waste from Union Carbide factory in Bhopal.

They felt that such a force should have members from Ministries of Environment and Forest and Home besides Madhya Pradesh government and NGOs working in Bhopal for rehabilitation of the victims.

On the issue of Anderson's extradition, some members said that legal advice should be sought from MEA, Law Ministry and CBI.




 

Comments

 

Other News

Counting matters but which ones?

The first instinct of public policy is to count. Its harder task is to count what counts. We have become remarkably good at measuring the reach of the welfare state vis-à-vis beneficiaries covered, rupees transferred, houses built, connections installed and services delivered. But some of the most

Inching closer to a trade deal with America

The cooperation between India and the United States goes back quite a time. We need to relegate that era to the backburner when Pandit Jawaharlal Nehru visited US in the times of president Dwight Eisenhower and called the American let-off of 10 million dollars in defence aid to Pakistan as a “gun w

Manch vs Musk: Forty people and a foreign billionaire

About forty people walked the roundabout on Teen Murti Marg to the gate of Chanakyapuri police station, a distance you could cover in under a minute, on Friday to protest against Elon Musk’s Starlink. The walk was called by the Swadeshi Jagaran Manch. Nobody joined them on the way, and nobody seeme

Master sculptor recalls the making of the Shankaracharya statue

The Golden Chisel: The Story Behind the Making of Ram Lalla  By Seethalakshmi S. and Rahul Nandan Rupa Publications, 168 pages, Rs 395  

Mumbai’s missing affordable homes

Mumbai’s real estate market keeps growing, yet homeownership remains out of reach for much of its population. Three experts – urban researcher Hussain Indorewala, urban planner Vidyadhar Phatak and developer Kamlesh Thakur of NAREDCO Maharashtra, agree that simply constructing more apartments

Rubio denies US foreknowledge of Starlink restrictions in Ukraine

US secretary of state Marco Rubio has said he was unfamiliar with the Wall Street Journal report suggesting Elon Musk had decided to throttle Starlink services in Ukraine, but rejected claims that Washington had ordered the restrictions to pressure Kyiv.   “There was no

Upcoming Conferences



-->

Archives

Current Issue

Opinion

Facebook Twitter Google Plus Linkedin Subscribe Newsletter

Twitter