GoM tabled its report on bhopal to prime minister

The central government has decided to hike the compensation for the kins of those who died in the Bhopal Gas tragedy to Rs 10 lakhs per person. Coming 20 years after the first compensation package of $470 million was decided in 1989, this decision is likely to give rise to confusion about the number of claimants. “They are only thinking of about 5000 victims right now but the actual number is much higher.

RESIST INDUSTRIAL ANARCHY

The gas leak at Bhopal inflicted enough injury on the victims. The injury mounted in the following decades.

Case dragged 23 years

December 1, 1987: CBI files chargesheet against Union Carbide Corporation (UCC) head Warren Anderson and others, including UCC of USA, its subsidiary Union Carbide (India) Limited (UCIL) and Union Carbide (Eastern) Hong Kong February 9, 1989: Bhopal CJM declares Anderson absconder March 23, 1989: Supreme Court quashes criminal and civil proceedings against UCC with a final settlement amount of US $470 million March 10, 1991: Apex court restores criminal charges

Guilty, but bailed

ON JUNE 7, a Bhopal city court held eight persons guilty in connection with the toxic gas leak from the Union Carbide pesticide plant more than 25 years ago that killed thousands and affected over 500,000 people.

Bhopal’s toxic links with Indore

People in Indore and the adjoining Pithampur industrial area in Madhya Pradesh are protesting the incineration of Bhopal’s toxic waste near their homes. The waste disposal facility in Pithampur in Dhar district was completed recently.

Bhopal waste is not safe

THE Madhya Pradesh government has rejected repeated requests by the Pithampur industries association for samples of waste from the Union Carbide factory in Bhopal saying the waste can be handled only by a technical expert (see Subterranean leak, December 1-15, 2009).

Awaiting justice

Bhopal gas leak survivors held a protest demonstration outside the Union Carbide factory on the night of December 2, marking the 25th anniversary of the tragedy. A child sits on a pile of torches and banners used by the protestors

A work in progress

WE need to conduct more studies to understand if Himalayan glaciers are melting at a faster rate. And if they do retreat at a faster rate, we probably need even more studies to find out if global warming is the cause (see Glacial melt? Need more studies). That in essence was what environment minister Jairam Ramesh said

Bhopal to get Rs 110 cr memorial

Minister's remark on gas tragedy sparks angry protests during his recent visit to Bhopal, environment minister Jairam Ramesh stirred a hornet's nest when he remarked that the toxic waste stored in the Union Carbide factory was safe to handle. "I held the toxic waste in my hand. I am still alive and not coughing," he said on September 12. He was in the city to announce a Rs 110 crore memorial to be built to mark the 25th anniversary of the Bhopal gas tragedy.

'Arrest Anderson'

The Chief Judicial Magistrate (cjm) of Bhopal has issued an arrest warrant against the former chairperson of Union Carbide, Warren Anderson, in connection with the 1984 gas tragedy. A gas leak from company's pesticide plant in Bhopal had killed 10,000 people instantly. The judge ordered the Central Bureau of Investigation (cbi) to produce Anderson without delay.