Gas Peedit Karmchari Sangh demands adequate compensation to gas survivors, writes to CM
    Date :23-Jun-2020

Gas Peedit Karmchari Sang
 
 
Staff Reporter :
 
The victims of Bhopal Gas Tragedy account for seventy-five percent of COVID-19 deaths in Bhopal, says a report prepared by organisations working for survivors of 1984 Union Carbide disaster. These organisations wrote a letter to Chief Minister Shivraj Singh Chouhan apprising him of the fact that even after 35 years the condition of gas victims is fragile as they have suffered permanent damage due to exposure to Union Carbide’s toxic gases.
 
“It is precisely for this reason that we are requesting the Chief Minister to correct the figures in the curative petition pending in the Supreme Court and seek adequate compensation for 5,21,322 for the permanent injury caused to them by Union Carbide & Dow Chemical,” says Rashida Bi of Bhopal Gas Peedit Stationery Karmchari Sangh. Of total gas victims who died due to COVID-19, 81% had co-morbidities as a result of gas exposure while 75% of the gas victims died within 5 days of hospital stay and 84% of the gas victims died within 24 hours of hospital admission.
 
Rachna Dhingra of Bhopal Group for Information and Action told ‘The Hitavada’ that Indian Council for Medical Research-run hospital turned away several suspected gas victim patients who reported in the casualty ward. This refusal to admission and referring to another government hospital has killed at least 5 gas victims who later on tested positive and the most crucial time was wasted in denying admission to these gas victims, she added. While this criminal negligence continues in BMHRC, ICMR has turned a blind eye to the plight of one of the most vulnerable people.