New Delhi:
The reconstituted Group of Ministers on the Bhopal disaster is meeting on Friday. One of the key issues they may look at is compensation to the families of the victims. For hundreds of victims of the Bhopal gas tragedy, it's been an endless wait for compensation. (Read: Fresh compensation likely for Bhopal victims)
Commenting on the issue of compensation, Senior Congress leader and Information and Broadcasting Minister Ambika Soni said, "There is a need to reachout to those people who have not received adequate compensation...I hope GoM would address all relevant issues."
Meanwhile, the Opposition has questioned the quantum of compensation as well, saying that the 470 mn dollars was inadequate given the scale of the disaster. (Read: BJP attacks Congress for promising safe passage to Anderson)
Yogiraj Sharma, former Madhya Pradesh's Health Director managed to get four lakh rupees - the highest compensation ever for his physically and mentally challenged daughter, born three months after the gas leak.
Contrast this with Leela Bayee, who was refused compensation for her son who was born three years after the tragedy. Pradeep is 20, but looks 13, which private doctors say could be a result of the gas leak.
"The court said that he is not eligible for compensation as he was born after the tragedy," says Leela Bayee.
A former BJP MLA too used his clout to get three lakh rupees for the death of his brother, who died of renal failure after MIC exposure.
"I consider myself an important person both in the political and the social world, yet I had to fight for nine years and still got very little compensation," said Guttu Bhaiya, a former MLA.
But for 40-year-old Nafisa Ali, a teenager at the time of the disaster, it was a constant battle with sickness. All she got was a measly twenty-five thousand rupees. She died of renal failure.
Five years later, those like Waheed Khan, a local lawyer, are still fighting against the bias in compensation to gas victims.
"Either their cases were rejected or they received the minimum compensation of 25 thousand. On the other hand, we see the influential people have received the highest amounts," said Waheed khan, a counsel for the victims.
The fight began much earlier.
As against billion-dollar compensation in demand, in 1989, the Supreme Court brokered an out-of-court settlement between the Indian government and the Union Carbide - a full and final settlement of 470 million dollars, absolving the Union Carbide of all criminal and civil liabilities.
Even the statistics of the injured and the dead were manipulated. The 470-million dollar compensation was meant for only one lakh and eight thousand victims, quoted at that time by the government despite wide spread protest against this underestimation.
Eventually, the number of those affected was increased to nearly six lakh. But the compensation money was not, so each victim got far less than they should have and there are many who did not even get a single penny.
The question the victims ask is just why did their own government cheat them?
Commenting on the issue former Attorney General K Parasaran said, "The settlement was arrived at on the calculations made by the court itself. In fact, I told the court in a matter like this, at whatever amount it may be settled, even if it is billions and billions of dollars, there'll be criticism. I don't propose to take the responsibility on my shoulders... The court said our shoulders are broad enough, we will take the responsibility... and after full debate between me and Mr Nariman and some two or three private institutions were also represented before the court. The court decided that this is a reasonable amount..."
More than 25 years later, the fight for compensation is still on. So, the big question still remains. Is it not the responsibility of the government to compensate the victims?
Commenting on the issue of compensation, Senior Congress leader and Information and Broadcasting Minister Ambika Soni said, "There is a need to reachout to those people who have not received adequate compensation...I hope GoM would address all relevant issues."
Meanwhile, the Opposition has questioned the quantum of compensation as well, saying that the 470 mn dollars was inadequate given the scale of the disaster. (Read: BJP attacks Congress for promising safe passage to Anderson)
Yogiraj Sharma, former Madhya Pradesh's Health Director managed to get four lakh rupees - the highest compensation ever for his physically and mentally challenged daughter, born three months after the gas leak.
Contrast this with Leela Bayee, who was refused compensation for her son who was born three years after the tragedy. Pradeep is 20, but looks 13, which private doctors say could be a result of the gas leak.
"The court said that he is not eligible for compensation as he was born after the tragedy," says Leela Bayee.
A former BJP MLA too used his clout to get three lakh rupees for the death of his brother, who died of renal failure after MIC exposure.
"I consider myself an important person both in the political and the social world, yet I had to fight for nine years and still got very little compensation," said Guttu Bhaiya, a former MLA.
But for 40-year-old Nafisa Ali, a teenager at the time of the disaster, it was a constant battle with sickness. All she got was a measly twenty-five thousand rupees. She died of renal failure.
Five years later, those like Waheed Khan, a local lawyer, are still fighting against the bias in compensation to gas victims.
"Either their cases were rejected or they received the minimum compensation of 25 thousand. On the other hand, we see the influential people have received the highest amounts," said Waheed khan, a counsel for the victims.
The fight began much earlier.
As against billion-dollar compensation in demand, in 1989, the Supreme Court brokered an out-of-court settlement between the Indian government and the Union Carbide - a full and final settlement of 470 million dollars, absolving the Union Carbide of all criminal and civil liabilities.
Even the statistics of the injured and the dead were manipulated. The 470-million dollar compensation was meant for only one lakh and eight thousand victims, quoted at that time by the government despite wide spread protest against this underestimation.
Eventually, the number of those affected was increased to nearly six lakh. But the compensation money was not, so each victim got far less than they should have and there are many who did not even get a single penny.
The question the victims ask is just why did their own government cheat them?
Commenting on the issue former Attorney General K Parasaran said, "The settlement was arrived at on the calculations made by the court itself. In fact, I told the court in a matter like this, at whatever amount it may be settled, even if it is billions and billions of dollars, there'll be criticism. I don't propose to take the responsibility on my shoulders... The court said our shoulders are broad enough, we will take the responsibility... and after full debate between me and Mr Nariman and some two or three private institutions were also represented before the court. The court decided that this is a reasonable amount..."
More than 25 years later, the fight for compensation is still on. So, the big question still remains. Is it not the responsibility of the government to compensate the victims?
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