On December 29th, 2020, Bhopal survivor groups wrote a letter to the Chief Minister of the Madhya Pradesh State Government requesting payment of pensions for 470 women widowed by the gas disaster. Under a State Government scheme to support survivors, five thousand women widowed by the Bhopal gas disaster were promised pensions of Rs. 1,000 per month (roughly £10). After being temporarily halted in 2019, the scheme resumed on 3rd December, 2020, but survivors say 470 women eligible for the scheme have not yet received any payments. Some of these have been eligible for up to 5 years but have not yet received approval, despite promises that they would be compensated under the scheme when a fresh budget was approved in April 2021.
The survivor groups have petitioned the government to:
- Fulfil the promise made on 3rd December 2020 to resume pensions for all eligible widows in the city
- Provide compensation dating back to April 2021 for all those still awaiting approval who were eligible at that time
- Ensure all future applications for pensions for widows are processed with a 30-day time period
They are currently still awaiting a response from the MP State Government, but will continue to pursue the issue until all those widowed by the gas disaster are properly cared for.
