NEW DELHI. The Indian government announced its decision to give a one-time interim relief to victims of Bhopal gas disaster.
The law and justice minister, Dinesh Goswami, told a press conference that the quantum of interim relief, which would cover the severely affected 36 wards of Bhopal, would be decided in consultation with the representatives of activist groups who had filed a public interest petition in the country’s apex court, the Supreme Court. A meeting for the purpose would be convened soon, he added.
He said the interim relief would be independent of the 470 million U S dollar settlement arrived at between the government during the Congress (I) rule and the multinational Union Carbide Corporation
In another major decision the government has also decided to support the petitioners who had filed review petitions before the review bench of the Supreme Court against the recent judgment of the court in regard to the Bhopal gas tragedy.
More than 3000 persons died in the capital city of Bhopal in Madhya Pradesh on the night of Dec. 2, 1980 after poisonous metho-iso-cynide gas leaked out of the multinational Union Carbide plant into the city.
Article extracted from this publication >> January 19, 1990
