[It could have been much worse. A lot will depend on public pressure in the coming days. The larger question of safety as regards hazardous industries - the proper regulatory and monitoring mechanisms based on best international practices and adequate space for public participation, must be brought to the fore. This is the right time for that.]
I/IV. http://economictimes.indiatimes.com/news/politics/nation/Bhopal-GoM-recommends-enhanced-compensation-for-victims-clean-up-of-toxic-waste/articleshow/6077038.cms <http://economictimes.indiatimes.com/news/politics/nation/Bhopal-GoM-recommends-enhanced-compensation-for-victims-clean-up-of-toxic-waste/articleshow/6077038.cms>Bhopal GoM recommends enhanced compensation for victims, clean-up of toxic waste 22 Jun 2010, 0616 hrs IST,ET Bureau NEW DELHI: A top ministerial panel has recommended a virtual revision of the government policy towards Bhopal gas tragedy victims and the accused, a move that was widely welcomed although punctuated with cries of “too little, too late.” The Group of Ministers (GoM) on Bhopal led by home minister P Chidambaram favoured enhanced compensation for victims and a government-sponsored clean-up of the Union Carbide factory premise. It has also voted for pursuing the extradition of former Union Carbide CEO Warren Anderson, and favours filing of a curative petition at the Supreme Court seeking stringent punishment for the guilty, besides examining the liability of Union Carbide and/or Dow Chemicals that bought over Union Carbide. The report, submitted to the prime minister on Monday, will be taken up by a special cabinet meeting scheduled for Friday. “The GoM most importantly discussed the remediation, health and health-related matters. Kindly remember that our focus is on bringing relief to the people who have suffered . There are few thousands who continue to suffer. We think we have made significant recommendations,” Mr Chidambaram said. Welcoming broadly the GoM recommendations , organisations representing the victims said the panel had but virtually absolved Dow Chemicals from any liabilities. “This should have come 25 years ago, but their eyes have opened only now. Still, better late than never (der aaye durust aaye),” said Rasheeda Bi who runs the Chingari Trust in Bhopal that looks after over 300 handicapped children born after the gas leak. The panel has recommended Rs 1,500 crore be set aside for compensation. The fresh amounts will be given after deducting the compensation moneys given to the victims in the past. Rasheeda Bi, who is also a member of Bhopal Gas Peedit Mahila Stationery Karmchari Sangh, said there should be only one category, and all the victims should be given Rs 5 lakh each. “They can use this money to get their medicines, their livelihoods, their treatments. We have to see how much more struggle lies in front of us. In the past, when compensation was given, people entitled for Rs 25,000 got only Rs 15,000,“ she said. In the immediate aftermath of the gas leak 5,295 people lost their lives, and another 10,047 persons succumbed in the following months. Out of the 5,60,000 affected people, nearly 37,000 were permanently disabled, 3,166 were completely disabled while the rest received minor injuries. While the figures for the affected was indicative, there may not be any reclassification as it was done by a committee of judges and medical personnel . ND Jayaprakash of Bhopal Gas Peedit Sangharsh Sahayog Samiti member said the new compensation will be meaningless without a recategorisation. “The injuries suffered by the bulk of the victims at that time were classed as temporary. But the truth is that, even today, most of them are still going to hospitals. every month, 1.5 lakh people visit hospitals every month,” he said. The GoM also recommended that the Centre take over the Bhopal Memorial Trust hospital with Rs 230 crore earmarked to upgrade it. “This is a welcome decision; good doctors have been leaving the hospital . At present there is a huge shortage of doctors and nurses at that hospital. It will work better if the state and central governments and the victims have representation on the board,” said Syed M Irfan, a gas victim, and member of the Bhopal Gas Peedit Mahila Purush Sangharsh Morcha. The GoM has recommended that the Indian Council for Medical Research be given Rs 100 crore to undertake new studies on the health status. The Madhya Pradesh government plan, which had been approved by the Planning Commission , has also been restructured by the GoM. The Rs 982.75 crore package now stands at Rs 227 crore. This would go towards six hospitals and their upgrading, pension for widows , and rehabilitation for the affected , including entrepreneurial training. The reason for a smaller package is that some of the expenses have been taken up by the Centre, like the environmental clean up. The toxic waste lying at the factory site will be incinerated at the Common Transport Storage and Disposal Facility at Pithampur in the Dhar district of Madhya Pradesh. The 1.1 million tonne of contaminated soil will be treated and buried in a concrete casing at the UC plant site. The National Environmental Engineering Research Institute (NEERI), Nagpur, will seal the five contaminated tubewells and other water outlets. The defunct plant will be detoxified and dismantled and processed on to rolling mills. A new memorial for the victims will come up at the site. The ministerial panel has made certain legal recommendations, but given its complicated and time consuming nature, the focus was on compensation and remediation. The legal remedies are being seen as a response to a situation that became untenable for the Congress after the trail court in Bhopal sentenced seven executives of the Union Carbide India factory for two years and let them off on bail earlier this month. II. http://timesofindia.indiatimes.com/India/Recognition-at-last-that-compensation-was-measly/articleshow/6076942.cms ‘Recognition at last that compensation was measly’Suchandana Gupta, TNN, Jun 22, 2010, 05.06am IST <http://timesofindia.indiatimes.com/India/Recognition-at-last-that-compensation-was-measly/articleshow/6076942.cms>BHOPAL: The recommendations made by the Group of Ministers on Bhopal, delayed as they doubtlessly are, come as a relief to thousands of people who have suffered emotionally, physically and financially, over the last 26 years of litigation, swinging all along between hope ignited by their own struggle for justice, and despair arising out of a cold and apathetic system. But the GoM recommendations also raise questions regarding Warren Anderson, cleaning up the toxic waste and other foreign companies now "absconders". Activist and victim Champa Devi Shukla lost her husband and two sons to the gas tragedy. Her daughters gave birth to still born babies. A decade ago, her only grandchild was born deaf and mute with multiple disabilities. But on Monday, Champa Devi smiled when she heard of the GoM report. "It’s still not very clear what will be the outcome... But we are hopeful because the Centre has at last taken a stand and joined the victims in their struggle for justice," said Champa Devi. "To recognize that our compensation was measly is a major development." On Monday morning, victims and NGOs welcomed the report even before it could be submitted to the Prime Minister. People in gas-affected parts of Bhopal gathered at street corners to discuss the Rs 10 lakh compensation for the dead. "We are yet to see a copy of the report. But there are a number of unanswered questions," said Satinath Sarangi, convener of the Bhopal Group for Information and Action, a victims’ NGO. "By government records, only 5,300 victims are in the ‘death’ category while more than 17,000 who died later were registered as ‘injured’. It was argued that many of these people had died of TB. But the government must recognize that these victims contacted TB because their lungs were damaged by leak," said Sarangi. NGOs wondered whether the government will recognize those who died in the aftermath of the gas tragedy as death claims. "It would be injustice if families of victims who died later are not compensated like those killed that night," said Abdul of Bhopal Gas Peedith Mahila Udyog Sangathan. III. http://www.hindu.com/2010/06/22/stories/2010062262861200.htm *‘Compensation packages wrongly calculated'* Mahim Pratap Singh *They are based on faulty medical categorisation and miscalculated figures: survivors' organisations * BHOPAL: The report on the Bhopal gas leak submitted by the Group of Ministers (GoM) to Prime Minister Manmohan Singh on Monday drew mixed reactions from survivors' organisations here, which have decided to write to him to allow them a hearing at a Cabinet meet to be held on Friday. While welcoming it as “at least some hope after all,” major survivors' organisations termed the report a pacifier. “We are yet to see the official copy, but from what we hear, there are certain concerns that need to be addressed,” said Abdul Jabbar of the Bhopal Gas Peedith Mahila Udyog Sangathan. “It is unfortunate that there is no mention of the Empowered Commission on Bhopal promised by the Prime Minister,” Mr. Jabbar added. Objections were particularly raised over the issue of revised compensation based on faulty medical categorisation and miscalculated figures. “According to our information, compensation packages are based on old categorisations and figures. If that is the case, I have to say it is unfair,” said Satinath Sarangi of the Bhopal Group for Information and Action. For instance, of the total number of registered death cases, 15,274 (death claims were actually 22,146, but only 15,274 were approved) only 5,300 would receive the Rs.10 lakh compensation recommended in the GoM report, leaving out 9,974 cases (unofficially around 17,000). Similarly, compensation for the permanently injured (C category) and temporarily injured (B category) was also decided based on the 1989 figures. Further, the GoM did not consider the number of people registered by the office of the Welfare Commissioner, Bhopal, as dead, disabled and injured from 1989 till 1996, leaving out a large number of eligible claimants. The GoM report also leaves out the number of people who died after 1996 due to medical complications caused by the gas leak. Unofficial sources put this number at around 20,000. The compensation packages are as follows: Rs.10 lakh for the dead, Rs. 5 lakh for the permanently injured, and Rs.3 lakh for the temporarily injured. The first two categories amount to six per cent of the cases. Ninety-four per cent of the cases which fall under the third category (temporary disabled) will be eligible for Rs.3 lakh minus the Rs.50,000 already paid to them as compensation in two instalments — Rs.25,000 from 1992 to 2004 and the other Rs.25,000 on a pro-rata basis from 2004 to 2007. The figure mismatch of the 15,274 death claims occurred as the GoM considered the figures used in the 1989 Supreme Court-brokered financial settlement of $470 million. “There is no mention of the second and third generation victims and the constant medical complications being caused by the contaminated drinking water,” Mr. Jabbar said. On the GoM's recommendation of legal recourse to pursue the extradition of Warren Anderson, former chairman of the Union Carbide Corporation, Mr. Sarangi said: “Why just Anderson? The government should also try to bring to book the Union Carbide Corporation (New York) and the Union Carbide Eastern (Hong Kong) since they are also absconders. This would open the option of slapping a monetary fine on the two corporations, which could be used for the relief and rehabilitation of the victims.” Objections were also raised over the recommendation of earmarking Rs.300 crore of public money for cleaning up the area on and around the Union Carbide factory premises. Wrong precedent The organisations pointed out that this would set a wrong precedent for other corporations to evade their environmental responsibilities. “Chief scientists of various hazardous waste disposal companies have told us that India is not technologically quipped to dispose of the hazardous waste lying in the factory and it will have to be shipped out. So even Rs.300 crore wouldn't be sufficient for the clean-up,” Mr. Sarangi said. * * III. http://www.livemint.com/2010/06/22114137/Dow-Chemicals-deny-responsibil.html?h=E Dow Chemicals deny responsibility for Bhopal tragedy According to a top Indian government official who attended the five sessions of the GoM, the government plans to pursue a case to claim financial compensation from Dow Chemicals Liz Mathew New Delhi: Dow Chemicals, the US based company that acquired the assets of Union Carbide Corp, has said that it cannot be held responsible for the 1984 Bhopal gas tragedy, and called attempts to affix responsibility to the company “inappropriate and misdirected.” The response came immediately after reports suggested that a Group of Ministers (GoM) constituted by Prime Minister Manmohan Singh to look into all issues relating to the Bhopal gas leak disaster would try to establish the liability of the company. Pointing out that the GoM have not issued any formal public report on their recommendations, Scot Wheeler, spokesperson of Dow Chemicals, in an email response to Mint said, “There are some who continue to try to fix responsibility for the Bhopal tragedy to the Dow Chemical Company, but the fact is that Dow never owned, operated nor inherited the facility in Bhopal.” Wheeler added: “Efforts to attached Dow are inappropriate and misdirected.” According to a top Indian government official who attended the five sessions of the GoM, the government plans to pursue a case to claim financial compensation from Dow Chemicals. Dow acquired the international assets of Union Carbide Corp., the parent of Union Carbide India Ltd, in 1999. Union Carbide Corp. had, in 1994, sold its Indian assets to Eveready Industries India Ltd. An executive at the Indian arm of Dow directed queries to the US parent, representatives of which couldn’t immediately be reached for comment. <http://www.livemint.com/2010/06/22114137/Dow-Chemicals-deny-responsibil.html?h=E> -- Peace Is Doable -- You received this message because you are subscribed to the Google Groups "Green Youth Movement" group. To post to this group, send an email to [email protected]. To unsubscribe from this group, send email to [email protected]. For more options, visit this group at http://groups.google.com/group/greenyouth?hl=en-GB.
