New Delhi: The reconstituted Group of Ministers (GoM) on Bhopal gas tragedy met on Monday.
According to sources, the ministers have reached a consensus that the Madhya Pradesh government will undertake exercise of clean up with support from the Centre.
They've also decided that Rs 10 lakh will be given to those who lost their lives in India's worst industrial disaster, and that the liability of Dow Chemicals will be pursued in the Madhya Pradesh High court at its Jabalpur Bench, the sources added.
The panel will now submit its report to the Prime Minister.
The panel wants the Cabinet to rethink almost all decisions made in the past. Some of its key recommendations are likely to include:
- Clean up of the toxic waste that still lies at the plant site. But that will have to be done by the Madhya Pradesh government, though the Centre will give technical and financial help.
- Nearly 350 tonnes of toxic waste to be incinerated in Pitampura near Indore. Close to 1.1 million tonnes of contaminated soil to be cleaned up at the spot.
- The GoM is also likely to recommend that the Union Carbide plant be dismantled and a memorial park be set up in its place.
- The Group of Ministers also favours the extradition of former Union Carbide chief Warren Anderson in the light of the new evidence that was recorded during the recent Bhopal trial judgement.
- It will also recommend filing of a curative petition to fix criminal liability on the accused against the 1996 Supreme Court judgment which diluted the culpable homicide charges not amounting to murder against the accused to negligence on their part.
- The Centre will pursue the liability issue with Dow. The case is pending with the High Court.
- The Centre will also approach the Supreme Court to take over the control of the Bhopal Trust Hospital and enhance compensation for the victims.
The Prime Minister had asked the nine-member GoM headed by Chidambaram on June 14 to meet immediately and report to the Cabinet within 10 days.
The GoM ahd been asked to assess the options and remedies available to the government in the light of the Bhopal court's verdict in the gas tragedy case. It was reconstituted to go into a range of issues including the relief and rehabilitation of victims and their families.
More than 25 years after the disaster, former Union Carbide India Chairman Keshub Mahindra and six others were sentenced to two years imprisonment by a Bhopal court earlier this month. They were, however, granted bail.