Bhopal (Madhya Pradesh): The gas victims said that they filed a writ petition in Supreme Court to address injustice with regard to compensation given to survivors. They have demanded additional compensation. The petition seeks additional compensation for survivors with cancer and fatal kidney diseases whose injuries from gas exposure had been wrongfully categorised as temporary.
They interacted with media ahead of 40th anniversary of Bhopal gas tragedy on Saturday. “Official record states that 90 % of 11, 278 survivors who were diagnosed with cancers and 91 % of 1,855 survivors diagnosed with fatal kidney diseases and paid ex-gratia by the government for the same, have only received Rs 25,000 as compensation,” Rashida Be, president of Bhopal Gas Peedit Mahila Stationery Karmchari Sangathan said.
According to Rachna Dhingra of Bhopal Group for Information & Action, Union Carbide’s own documents clearly state that health damage due caused due to exposure to methyl isocyanate is permanent in nature yet 93% of the claimants for compensation have been considered by the official agency to have suffered only “temporary” injury.
“This is the main reason for under-compensation of the victims,” she said. The Bhopal disaster or Bhopal gas tragedy was a chemical accident on the night of 2–3 December 1984 at the Union Carbide India Limited (UCIL) pesticide plant in Bhopal, Madhya Pradesh, India.
