Happier days are here again to the already happy Indian tax payers. Besides the fuel price hike already on the anvil Indian tax payers are forced to cough up more than Rs.1500 crore a huge chunk of which is to be paid to the hapless victims of world’s worst industrial disaster brought about by an irresponsible and careless acts of an American based company - Union Carbide (UCC) 26 years back. That is more than a quarter century. To be precise in the night of Dec 4, 1984 which killed and maimed several thousands of poor inhabitants in surrounding areas of the accursed firm. People living in shanties, on the pavements, bus stations, railway platforms, it was a crowded area where the construction of such a company itself was a huge folly and crime. The present generation too unfortunately suffer from the harmful effects due to the leak of Methyl Isocyanate (MIC) and congenital effects in large numbers among the new born babies still continue unabated.
Its chairman Warren Anderson, the No.1 culprit, an American fled Bhopal in the dead of night it is alleged that he was provided an escape route to New Delhi, and as per the directions of the then ruling party leaders arranged a flight for him to USA to rescue him from the wrath of Indian citizens especially the Bhopal citizens. The man who should have been put behind bars is thus roaming free in his native nation.
For 26 years various govts under various alliances and leadership, the “ever vigilant media” about which we people extoll often never cared to take follow-up action to bring the culprits to justice even our judiciary developed a cold-feet, and as former Supreme Court Judge V.R.Krishna Iyer pointed out our highest court of land should have taken upon the task of taking notice of the crime and proceeded along and meted out punishment to the concerned accused.
Sevanti Ninan, a media watchdog, in her column ‘Media Matters’ in The Hindu, last Sunday in a sarcastic tone has castigated our mainstream media for the ‘belighted enlightenment’ dawned upon them and the competition among them to discuss, debate, interview and all such ‘art programmes’ with enthusiasm and righteous indignation about the Bhopal court verdict for letting loose the eight prominent culprits with imprisonments for a period of 2years or fine and for freeing them on bail for a surety of Rs.25000/ each and the main culprit Warren Anderson relaxing coolly in his cosy multi-million dollar flat in USA.
As a result of the hue and cry raised over the verdict at the eleventh hour a humanitarian and tender-hearted Prime Minister took up the initiative of forming a GoM (Group of Ministers) under the leadership of our Home Minister P.Chidambaram and directed them to urgently submit a report to him, the circumstances, the extent of damages caused, compensation amount to be paid to the victims’ families and for cleansing the entire contaminated environment the whole expenses and the other important follow-up actions to alleviate the sufferings of the hapless. Accordingly the meet which commenced on Friday last looked into all aspects of the disaster and further steps to be expedited submitted a report on Monday before the PM in right earnest.
An amount of Rs.1500 crores out of which 10 lakhs each to the kin of the victims who perished in the disaster, 5 lakhs each to those maimed ones and 2 lakhs each to the cancer-stricken patients as a consequence of the tragedy and specified that the amounts already doled out have to be deducted from the entire sum. The take-over by govt. of the Hospital built by the UCC which was virtually closed due to lack of amenities, equipments and doctors the contaminated materials to be collected in a covern etc etc.
A decision to file a curative petition before Supreme Court for extradition of Warren Anderson (how nice, aha aha) and for directing the UCC, America to remit further compensation. UCC meanwhile has made it clear that at the time of signing the deal there was no clause in it to provide compensation in the event of a disaster.
And now all this per-meditated drama. The compensation announced by our generous govt. to the victims of the disaster, to put it mildly is just ‘peanuts’, please note it is after a lapse of 26 years. Adding insult to injury the entire compensation amount will have to be at the expense of our already burdened tax-payers. A National daily, The New Indian Express, on an opinion survey has found that 92 percent of its readers believe that Indian tax-payer will have to bear the burden.
The hurry with which our PM and his colleagues conducted the GoM and the ‘soothing measures’ followed with an enormous speed it seems, have a hidden agenda. That our PM is in a desperate hurry to get the Civil Nuclear damage liability bill passed in parliament, his obligation to US. Let us wait and see.
It is worthwhile here to note that US President could force BP (British Petroleum) then and there for the oil-spill disaster due to the blow-out of the oil well in the Gulf of Mexico causing massive havoc to the bio-diversity deposit US $20 billion in escrow (with no cap). What about our PM and his colleagues?
Why can’t our govt. prevail upon the US govt. to extradite Warren Anderson and force UCC to deposit the eligible amount that will come to about millions of dollars? The whole responsibility lies upon those who are enconsced in the hot seats at New Delhi. But the mute question is will it dare to take on the US govt.
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