New Delhi:
This afternoon, nine senior ministers meet to draft the agenda for the government on different dimensions of the Bhopal gas tragedy. The Group of Minister (GoM), headed by P Chidambaram, have been asked by the Prime Minister to report to the cabinet within ten days.
The to-do list is a complex one for the GoM. The contentious getaway of Warren Anderson, increasing the compensation given to victims, and the gigantic clean-up required at the site of the disaster will all be researched.
Anderson, the Amercian CEO of Union Carbide Corp, flew into India after the gas leak at his company's plant in December 1984, and was then flown out of Bhopal under government supervision. He has refused, since then, to return to India to face court proceedings. A court verdict last week, which effectively ended up punishing nobody, has led to a renewed demand for Anderson's extradition. The Congress is finding it tough to defend the Anderson fiasco - it was in power at the centre and in Madhya Pradesh during the Carbide gas leak.
Ahead of the GoM's meeting, activists fighting for surviving victims have written to the panel, asking that a Special Special Prosecution Cell be set up within the CBI for securing Anderson's extradition.
(Read: Bhopal survivors' letter to GoM: Full text)The letter also asks the government to file a petition in the Supreme Court asking for a revision of the court's 1996 order - which reduced the charges against Indian Carbide executives from culpable homicide to criminal negligence. The former carries a prison sentence of ten years; the latter allows a maximum of two years in jail.
The activists say the government must ensure that clean drinking water is provided to those living near the defunct Carbide plant.