Bhopal gas tragedy: 20,000 pleas to urge SC for early hearing
Bhopal gas tragedy survivors will be submitting 20,000 personal petitions to the Supreme Court on December 3 – the 31st anniversary of the Bhopal gas disaster – to urge the court to conduct early hearing on the petitions for enhanced compensation pending before it.
Bhopal gas tragedy survivors will be submitting 20,000 personal petitions to the Supreme Court on December 3 – the 31st anniversary of the Bhopal gas disaster – to urge the court to conduct early hearing on the petitions for enhanced compensation pending before it.
The submission of the personal petitions will be coordinated by the Bhopal Gas Peedit Mahila Udyog Sangathan (BGPMUS), an NGO working for the gas survivors, which had filed a petition in 2004 for five times higher compensation to the victims.
The Bhopal gas tragedy of December 2-3, 1984 killed thousands and maimed lakhs for life. Only 1.02 lakh survivors and the kin of just over 3,000 dead persons had received compensation between Rs 25,000 and Rs 1 lakh after a settlement between the Government of India and Union Carbide on compensation in 1989.
Addressing a press conference on Monday, BGPMUS convener Abdul Jabbar said the above-mentioned petition of the organisation and a curative petition on additional compensation for tragedy survivors filed by the Union government in 2010 are pending before the Supreme Court without any effective hearing.
Delay in hearing adds to difficulties of survivors: Jabbar
“The delay in hearing of these petitions only adds to the difficulties of the survivors who have failed to get actual justice even 31 years after the tragedy. Therefore, we are collecting personal petitions addressed to SC from affected people and would be putting them before the apex court on December 3,” Jabbar said.
Also, the tragedy survivors will be submitting a memorandum of long pending demands to chief minister Shivraj Singh Chouhan on December 3. The submission of memorandum has been an annual ritual by the BGPMUS for last many years, although hardly any demands have been fulfilled, Jabbar said.
A condolence meeting in association with other civil society organisations will be held at the Yadgar-e-Shahjehani Park on the anniversary day, he said.
The organisation has put across a set of demands and questions to the state government ahead of the 31st anniversary.
One of the important points is about the pending criminal case on gas tragedy in Bhopal district court and the failure of the state government to set up a fast-track court for the hearing, Jabbar said.
Events on tragedy anniversary
The ‘Remember Bhopal Museum’ is organising an awareness programme on December 3 on the occasion of 31st anniversary of Bhopal gas tragedy. This happens to be the first anniversary of the museum.
As per a release, the event will consist of cultural programme with Bhopal gas tragedy as the central theme, school competitions, music compositions, tableau, photo-exhibition and satirical dramatic presentations.
The release says school children will present their opinion on Bhopal Gas tragedy by participating in competitions like poetry writing, poster making and essay writing.