GoM Meets Today – Rehabilitation, Health, Environment, Justice Likely Agenda

Akbar Khan

Bhopal  —  Media glare and public attention both firmly focused on the Bhopal Gas Tragedy, populist moves are likely to take precedence, when the recently constituted Group of Ministers (GoM) meets under the chairmanship of Union Home Minister P. Chidambaram this afternoon.

Drawn together in face of the stringent criticism that followed the incongruent June 7 verdict in the gas disaster case, the GoM, according to sources, could recommend and announce measures like the reconstitution of the Bhopal Memorial Hospital Trust (BMHT) and perhaps, a fresh round of compensation for the victims.

The politically astute suggest that the government could even consider working out a middle-path with victims, activists and political opponents to quell criticism fires, threatening to blister some of the biggest names in the Congress party.

The GoM is also likely to consider ways to study several other issues, including that of bringing the disaster accused to book, long term health hazards faced by the victims and contamination of water and soil in the areas affected by the gas leak.

On the night of December2-3 1984, a leak in tank 610 at the Union Carbide plant released a large volume of Methyl Isocyanate – a highly toxic organic compound – into the environment. Over 15000 people have perished of the poisonous fumes they inhaled that night and lakhs others continue to live with its effects.

A quarter of a century later, on June 7 this year, the Bhopal district court handed two year sentences to eight former employees of Union Carbide India Limited (UCIL) for causing death due to negligence. The verdict outraged the sensibilities of people across the nation, especially as it did not mention Warren Anderson, then chairman of Union Carbide and an absconder in the case.
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