Finalising a comprehensive package on the Bhopal gas leak disaster after three days of back-to-back deliberations, the reconstituted group of ministers (GoM) on Monday recommended a substantially enhanced compensation deal for victims, filing of a curative petition in the Supreme Court on the dilution of charges against the accused and pursuing afresh extradition of former Union Carbide chief Warren Anderson from the US.
The package also included a proposal to raze the Union Carbide plant in Bhopal and construct a memorial in its place at a cost of Rs 100 crore, a separate remediation proposal to dispose toxic waste at the contaminated site besides recharging the ground water and soil and takeover the Bhopal memorial hospital.
The remediation costs will be borne by the Centre, sources said, but without prejudice to the ongoing case against Dow Chemicals in the Madhya Pradesh High Court where compensation has been sought for remediation purpose. The recommendations of the GoM will be placed before the Union Cabinet on June 25, where they are expected to be formally approved.
A final view of the attorney general will be sought in the next few days on whether a curative petition should be filed in the Supreme Court or whether the government should seek review of the SC judgment of 1996.
To provide succour to victims, the GoM recommended enhancement of the monetary compensation to the next of kin of the deceased as well the injured. The categories fixed are Rs 10 lakh for the dead, Rs 5 lakh for those with permanent disability and Rs 3 lakh for those with partial disability. The financial cost to be incurred for this is expected to be in the range of Rs 1320 crore.
The GoM also suggested that new categories of patients, including those suffering from cancer and renal failure, be added to those entitled for cash compensation of Rs 3 lakh each. But, the enhanced compensation would not be in addition to the already-paid compensation.
Other recommendations finalised by the nine-member panel include the takeover of the Bhopal Memorial Trust Hospital by the Centre set up in the aftermath of the tragedy, allotting Rs 230 crore for its upgradation; setting up the 31st country centre of Indian Council of Medical Research at Bhopal; fast-tracking the ongoing litigation in a Bhopal court with regard to the liability of Dow Chemicals (it bought Union Carbide Corporation in February 2001) to clean the site; and, finalisation of a Rs 300-crore Centrally-sponsored plan to clean the toxic site around the Bhopal plant to be supervised by an oversight committee.
On the issue of Dow?s liability, sources said the GoM was of the view that the company was adopting different standards?while it has been refusing to accept any liability for the Bhopal mess that it inherited from UCC, it had no such problems in promptly settling with UCC?s US victims in the asbestos case less than a year after acquiring Carbide. Dow set aside $2.2 billion to take care of all asbestos-related liabilities arising out of the UCC acquisition.
On the subject of Anderson?s extradition, the GoM went with the advice of the Union law ministry which said that a fresh request for the former UCC chief?s extradition be sent to the US government in the backdrop of the recent court judgment of the Bhopal court.
The law ministry had said that fresh evidence had surfaced in the judgment which indicated that Anderson was aware of the fact that the Bhopal plant had low maintenance before the accident. This was corroborated by witnesses who were questioned by the prosecution as well as by correspondence between the Bhopal plant and the UCC corporate office.
Moreover, the GoM agreed that Anderson continued to be an accused under Section 304-Part II ( culpable homicide) as the 1996 judgment of the Supreme Court which reduced the charge to criminal negligence didn?t deal with the case against him. The GoM recommended that the CBI file a curative petition in the Supreme Court to get the charges against the other accused reinstated.
After the meeting, home minister P Chidambaram, who headed the GoM, said it had made ?significant recommendations? and immediate focus was ?to bring relief to those people who had suffered as a result of the ghastly tragedy?.
Meanwhile, it is learnt that the suggestion of some members of the GoM that the government also file a curative petition in the apex court to get the amount of compensation paid by UCC ($470 million) revised could also be considered by the Cabinet on June 25 after taking the advice of the attorney general.
This step, some members of the GoM felt, had a strong chance of succeeding as the 1989 judgment of the Supreme Court, which fixed the amount at $470 million, could be faulted on account of the fact that the number of dead and injured, including those born years after the tragedy with serious ailments due to after-effects of the leakage, was much higher than what it was when the apex court decided the compensation.