MP Govt asked to take up compensation issue with GoM

An NGO working for the Bhopal Gas disaster victims today asked Madhya Pradesh government to take up the issue of inadequate compensation to affected families during the Group of Ministers (GoM) meeting on the tragedy.

In a letter to Gas Relief and Rehabilitation Minister Babulal Gaur, the Bhopal Gas Peedit Mahila Udyog Sangathan (BGPMUS) said the compensation of $470 million, accepted from Union Carbide in 1989, was "totally unjustified".

The compensation was taken for about 3,000 dead and 1.02 lakh injured, but it was actually distributed among 5,74,376 affected people, BGPMUS convener Abdul Jabbar said.

The amount was disbursed several years after receiving it and the interest accrued was not distributed among the victims, he said.

The enhanced compensation (Rs 1,500 crore) announced three months ago by the Centre covered only 4 per cent of the victims of the world's worst industrial disaster, he stated.

Jabbar said the persons who got minimum compensation of Rs 25,000 have been found to be suffering from very serious health complications.

Therefore, they all should get enhanced compensation, he said while requesting Gaur to take up the matter forcefully with the GoM on the September 28 meeting.

He said BGPMUS had sent letters to Union Home Minister P Chidambaram, who heads the GoM, seeking enhanced monetary assistance for the gas victims.