Activists working for the survivors of the Bhopal gas tragedy announced on Friday that they would build up a political consensus on what could still be done for the victims by getting all parties to come together on a common platform in New Delhi.
The activists said despite repeated requests, the Prime Minister failed to convene an all-party meeting following which they decided to call a meeting of all parties, including the Congress, within a week to share their disappointment on what the reconstituted GoM did and what was still possible.
The GoM?s recommendations accepted by the Union Cabinet on Thursday, were largely an attempt to buy time to defuse the public outrage after the lower court?s verdict, said Abdul Jabbar of the Bhopal Gas Peedit Mahila Udyog Sangathan (BGPMUS). Apart from the announcements relating to the filing of curative petitions and restructuring of the Bhopal Memorial Hospital and Research Centre, the GoM?s recommendations had nothing concrete, activists said.
?Why did Manmohan Singh not say that he would talk to US President Barack Obama on Warren Anderson?s extradition when they meet next,?? asked Jabbar, accusing the Cabinet of not being serious on the issue.
No one talked about serving Anderson with the warrants issued by the CJM court, activists said, adding that the government?s promise that it would try to seek his extradition sounded hollow. Also, there is no assurance of getting money from Dow or the Union Carbide Corporation, they said.
Criticising the MP chief minister, BGPMUS said Chouhan?s seriousness on the issue became clear when he sent a fax to the PM 15 minutes before the Union Cabinet was to meet. The activists said they also doubted whether MP minister for gas tragedy Babulal Gaur, a permanent invitee on the GoM, took up their case effectively. They wondered if he spoke only about getting money for residents of 20 wards that were not affected by the gas leak, thereby making the issue political and reducing its seriousness.
Everyone is shedding crocodile tears, the activists said, adding that had they been serious they would not have let the GoM arrive at its conclusions so quickly. Instead of fixing the number of victims who would become eligible for enhanced compensation, the GoM should have left the decision to the SC, they said.
