On Friday, gas survivors concerned with the delay in hearing of curative petition case for additional compensation started post card campaign series. The main objective was to appeal to authorities concerned for substantial action towards the issue of additional compensation which is pending for a long time.

 

The Bhopal Gas Peedith Mahila Udyog Sangthan in September 2004, had petitioned that the compensation to the gas victims was insufficient; the organisation had argued that the compensation received was based on only 12,000 affected and 3,000 deaths.

 

They alleged that around 5.74 lakh injured and 15,274 dead persons were compensated by compensation and many were left out. It was also mentioned to take the environmental impact into account. The petition has also sought the court to re-examine the orders. In the intervening night of December 2 and 3, 1984, a gas leak occurred in the Union Carbide India Limited (UCIL) pesticide plant in Bhopal. This led to the people living around the plant to be exposed to methyl isocyanate gas. The company claimed that the leak was an act of sabotage.

 

The grounds for which the curative petition was filed were that the environmental degradation that resulted from the tragedy as well as the fact that the number of deaths and injuries were under-represented. However, gas survivors organisations maintain that there was indeed negligence on the part of Union Carbide. They also stated that prior to the disaster, even the safety systems had been turned off for reasons of economy or for maintenance.

 

Their report also stated that untrained personnel werestationed in critical areas of the plant. Even after so many years the gas survivors still continue to demand proper rehabilitation, adequate compensation and proper medical treatment for ailments caused by the gas disaster.

 

The gas survivors claimed that additional compensation of approximately 6 lakh gas victims is pending and accordingly they have started post card campaign to appeal the authorities to take this issue as priority. Under this campaign around 5,000 postcards have been sent to concerned authorities. These details were given in the press conference in which gas survivors organisations representatives Abdul Jabbar, Hamida Bi, Raisa Bi, Shanti Devi, Akila Bi and Tarub Kushwaha etc were present.