Leaders of five organizations of the survivors of the Union Carbide disaster who met with the Madhya Pradesh Chief Secretary on Saturday said that they were hopeful of a positive response to their demands from the state government.
According to the organizations, on the fifth day of their indefinite dharna, the state government has agreed to make corrections in the curative petition before the Supreme Court as demanded by them.The organizations said that they have been assured that the changes n the curative petition for additional compensation from Union Carbide and Dow Chemical will be made in the next fifteen days.
+The organizations stated that the Chief Secretary has agreed that in the curative petition, the figure of deaths caused by the disaster will be upwardly revised from 5295 to 15342.
The organizations have pointed out that the figure being mentioned by the state government is only till 1997 while studies by the state government’s Centre for Rehabilitation Studies have shown that at least one person died due to gas exposure every day in the year 2000, three years after registration of death claims was arbitrarily stopped.
According to the leaders who met with the Chief Secretary on Saturday, the state government has agreed to present injuries caused by the disaster as permanent instead of categorizing 93% of the victims as only temporarily injured in the current version of the curative petition.
They said that this will enable majority of victims to receive adequate compensation from the American corporations. The organizations have sent facts and arguments in support of upward revision of damage figures to the Additional Solicitor General as requested by the state government today.
The organizations stated that they were still awaiting the government’s response to their second demand of withdrawal of criminal cases against 2000 gas victims including women older than 80 years.
They called for setting up of an independent and impartial inquiry as promised by the Chief Minister and demanded that legal action against those responsible for the incident of violence should be initiated only after the findings of the independent and impartial inquiry are made public.
The organizations organized a mass cursing against the District Collector at the dharna at the Yaadgaare Shahajahani park.
Holding the Collector responsible for the violence on the 27th Anniversary of the disaster, hundreds of women survivors expressed dark wishes against his health and happiness with folded hands.
The five organizations are Bhopal Gas Peedit Mahila Stationery Karmchari Sangh, Bhopal Gas Peedit Mahila Purush Sangharsh Morcha, Bhopal Gas Peedit Nirashrit Pension Bhogi Sangharsh Morcha, Bhopal Group for Information and Action and Children Against Dow Carbide.
Source: India Blooms
