Organisations of survivors of the Bhopal gas tragedy have warned that if they do not get information on the revision of death figures and extent of injury in the curative petition before the Supreme Court by December 26, they will launch peaceful mass action.
In a press conference on Tuesday, the organizations condemned the ongoing silence of the Madhya Pradesh and central governments over the figures of death and extent of injuries caused by the December 1984 disaster. The curative petition for additional compensation from Union Carbide and its current owner Dow Chemical is scheduled to be heard by the apex court on January 10.
Rashida Bee, President of the Bhopal Gas Peedit Mahila Stationery Karmchari Sangh said, “On November 17, the Principal Secretary of the Department of Bhopal Gas Tragedy Relief and Rehabilitation, assured us in a meeting that in accordance with the chief minister’s views, the state government will ensure that the figure of disaster-related deaths is revised upward from 5,295 to 15,342 and injuries suffered by all of the 5,21,332 exposed persons are considered to be of permanent and not temporary nature in the curative petition. However, two weeks have passed since documents were submitted to the Supreme Court and we still do not know whether the state government has actually got the revisions done.”
“Following directions from the office of the Attorney General, we have submitted documents in support of the upward revision of figures of damage caused by the disaster. However, we are still awaiting confirmation that information sent by us has actually been incorporated in the compilation of documents submitted to the Supreme Court,” said Balkrishna Namdeo, President of the Bhopal Gas Peedit Nirashrit Pensionbhogi Sangharsh Morcha.
Speaking against stonewalling by bureaucrats in the central and state government, Rachna Dhingra of the Bhopal Group for Information and Action said, ”We met the officials in the Ministry of Chemicals and Fertilizers and those in the state government’s Department of Bhopal Gas Tragedy Relief and Rehabilitation in this regard, but they have refused to share concrete information.”
Shahzadi Bee of Bhopal Gas Peedit Mahila Purush Sangharsh Morcha said, “We have been patient and exercised restraint ever since proceedings on the curative petition began in October. The petition is to be heard soon and if the judges are kept in the dark on the actual damage caused by the disaster, the entire point of the curative petition will be lost and justice will be yet again denied to the Bhopal victims. We will wait till December 26 for the governments to confirm that figures of death and health damage have been upwardly revised as promised. After this date, we will launch large-scale peaceful direct action in support of our constitutional and legal rights.”
“In October, the Attorney General stated in the Supreme Court that his government is committed to secure the best interests of the Bhopal victims. If indeed the government has kept its promise, why is there such an absence of transparency?,” asked Nousheen Khan of Children Against Dow Carbide.