New Delhi, April 15: Putting forth their long-standing demand for rehabilitation and medical care once again, a group of survivors of the 1984 Bhopal gas tragedy on Thursday staged a protest in the capital.
Organised by four NGOs, the protesters said none of the promises of rehabilitation Prime Minister Manmohan Singh himself made have been fulfilled.
“The central government’s enthusiasm seems to last only as long as the Bhopalis are camping in Delhi. After the spurt of activity in 2008, the government has not even reconvened the Group of Ministers on Bhopal after the 2009 Lok Sabha elections,” said Hazra Bee, a survivor and one of the protesters.
The government had “in-principle” agreed in 2006 to set up an Empowered Commission on Bhopal to look into the matters of rehabilitation of the gas leak victims.
Rachna Dhingra from Bhopal Group for Information and Action, while referring to the commission, said: “Nothing has moved in favour of the Bhopalis”.
Bee, who is in Delhi for the third time in four years to stage a protest to demand action on the commission, added: “To remind the government that they need to execute their decision on the empowered commission is the sole item on our agenda this time.”
Safreen Khan of NGO Children Against Dow-Carbide said: “Despite promises of rehabilitation made by the prime minister in 2006, 20,000 people are still drinking poisoned water and 10,000 gas victims who were promised jobs are jobless.”
Revealing documents through the Right to Information (RTI) Act, Dhingra said: “The RTI documents reveal that there has been substantial support for the commission among various relevant ministries like health, environment. Despite the support, though, nothing has moved toward formation of the commission.”
Thousands of tonnes of deadly methyl isocyanate (MIC) gas spewed out of the Union Carbide factory on the night of Dec 2-3, 1984, killing over 3,500 people instantly and maiming several thousands for life.
—Agencies