Supreme Court hearing on gas victims? issues today

THREE IMPORTANT issues concerning gas victims will come up for hearing before the Supreme Court on May 2. They include better medical facilities for the gas victims, five times more compensation for the victims and improving system at Bhopal Memorial Hospital & Research Centre (BMHRC).

THREE IMPORTANT issues concerning gas victims will come up for hearing before the Supreme Court on May 2. They include better medical facilities for the gas victims, five times more compensation for the victims and improving system at Bhopal Memorial Hospital & Research Centre (BMHRC).

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Public Interest Litigation (PIL) seeking proper medical rehabilitation of gas victims was filed in 1988. Similarly, two NGOs – Bhopal Gas Peedit Mahila Udyog Sangathan and Bhopal Gas Peedit Sangharsh Sahyog Samiti — had raised objection to Bhopal Memorial Trustt’s demand for Rs 48 crore, lying in the custody of the Supreme Court, for proper upkeep of BMHRC in 2004.

They had urged for making the Trust’s account public, expressing apprehension of bungling in the accounts. The Supreme Court had recently allowed the two NGOs to go through the Trust’s account.

Another petition was filed by the same NGOs urging the Supreme Court to declare the Bhopal Agreement ‘null and void’ as the compensation derived from Union Carbide was for deaths and injuries to people five times less than the actual numbers of people who perished in the tragedy or received injuries in the varying degrees.

The petition has urged the court to order five times more compensation for gas victims in the light of actual figures of deaths and injuries.