In the backdrop of outrage over the trial court's verdict in the Bhopal gas tragedy, the government on Thursday announced a Rs 1265.56-crore package and decided to file a curative petition in Supreme Court, besides pushing for the extradition of former Union Carbide chief Warren Anderson. The Union Cabinet, which considered the report of the Group of Ministers on the 1984 disaster, accepted all its 22 recommendations, but did not fix liability on anybody.
Despite the attempts made by the opposition to keep the Bhopal tragedy alive, the Congress leadership has made efforts to put a deliberate closure on the issue.
Former Union Minister Arun Nehru, a close aide of prime minister Rajiv Gandhi, claimed on Sunday that Arjun Singh as Madhya Pradesh chief minister had taken the decision to release then Union Carbide CEO Warren Anderson after the Bhopal tragedy and that Gandhi had no role in it.
Even nearly 30 years after the Bhopal gas tragedy, the Centre has declined to disclose information on its extradition requests to the United States for then Union Carbide Chief Executive Officer Warren Anderson on the pretext that it will 'impede' investigation into the matter.
Talks are on with a German firm for disposal of toxic waste left at the Union Carbide plant in the aftermath of the 1984 disaster after Madhya Pradesh, Gujarat and Maharashtra declined to allow its destruction in their territory, Home Minister P Chidambaram said on Tuesday.
As the year-long countdown begins for the 2012 London Olympics, organisers have been hit by the first major controversy around the mega sporting event, with activists of Bhopal gas disaster planning protests against Dow Chemical Company, one of the official sponsors.
After his 'inadvertent' comment against Rajiv Gandhi enraged Congress legislators in the state assembly, Kerala Chief Minister V S Achuthanandan on Saturday launched a scathing attack on the late prime minister. Speaking after inaugurating the Communist Party of India - Marxist's local committee office at Thamarakkulam, the veteran Marxist leader said Rajiv Gandhi was "no better than Sanjay Gandhi."
A Bhopal sessions court adjourned hearing on the petition challenging the trial court's verdict awarding 2 years' imprisonment to seven Union Carbide executives, including its former India Chairman Keshub Mahindra, in Bhopal gas tragedy case. District and Sessions Court Judge Subhash Kakde will hear the submissions on Wednesday.
The Congress has termed as "outrageous" and "ridiculous" the allegations that the Rajiv Gandhi government had assured "safe passage" to Union Carbide Chief Warren Anderson before he came to India in the aftermath of the deadly 1984 Bhopal gas leakage that killed thousands.
The International Olympic Committee (IOC) has appreciated Indian Olympic Association's (IOA) concern for the victims of 1984 Bhopal Tragedy but maintained that Dow Chemicals had no ownership stakes in Union Carbide till 2000.
Judicial proceedings against Warren Anderson, proclaimed offender in the over two-decade old Bhopal gas leak case, are still pending in the United States. "Since Warren Anderson was declared a proclaimed offender during trial, the trial against him, M/s Union Carbide Corporation, USA is still pending," the CBI said in response to an RTI query.
The Union cabinet will discuss the report of the Group of Ministers on the 1984 Bhopal gas tragedy on Thursday.
The quest of Bhopal victims for justice must continue and till the truth prevails because it is not their struggle victims of Bhopal alone. It is a litmus test that will determine that what prevails in the conflict between naked lust for profit at any human cost and public health of the present and future generations, says Gopal Krishna.
Union Law Minister M Veerappa Moily on Saturday attacked a top aide of Rajiv Gandhi for suggesting that the then prime minister may have had a role in the release of former Union Carbide chief Warren Anderson accused in Bhopal gas case, saying he was a new convert to the Bharatiya Janata Party-Shiv Sena camp.
The government on Tuesday approved the disposal of nearly 350 metric tonnes of Union Carbide toxic waste in Bhopal by a German company. The approval was given following recommendations from a Group of Ministers on the Bhopal gas tragedy, chaired by Home Minister P C Chidambaram, officials said.
Environment Minister Jairam Ramesh, who has triggered a fresh controversy over the calibre of the faculty of India's premier higher education institutes, on Thursday claimed he had ample support at home as well as abroad.
Twenty-three members of the European Parliament have in a letter to Prime Minsiter Dr Manmohan Singh offered support for efforts of the Government of India in assessing environmental contamination in Bhopal, Nityanand Jayaraman of the organisation International Campaign for Justice in Bhopal has claimed.
The Madhya Pradesh government on Tuesday removed former Director General of Police (DGP) Swaraj Puri, who had played a key role in the release of the former Union Carbide chief Warren Anderson, from the state-run Narmada Valley Development Authority (NVDA).
Terming the recent judgment in the Bhopal case as a "preposterous travesty", a British expert on corporate social responsibility today called for a global 'corporate manslaughter law' that can hold to account corporations such as Union Carbide.
US Congressman Frank Pallone, the founder and former co-chairman of the Congressional Caucus on India and Indian Americans has slammed the Bhopal court's verdict of just a two year jail term for those responsible for the Bhopal tragedy as "outrageous" and said that erstwhile Union Carbide chief executive Warren Anderson should stand trial in India along with the others culpable for this carnage and receive the maximum punishment for the worst industrial disaster in the world.
Journalist Shakti Bhatt located former Union Carbide Chairman Warren Anderson's luxury home in New York, declared unknown by the American and Indian governments, in India Abroad, the newspaper owned by Rediff.com, back in September 2002. As a Bhopal court convicted eight people on Monday, June 7, for the worst-ever industrial disaster, we reproduce the global scoop
Details of use of state government plane to ferry Union Carbide Chairman Warren Anderson out of Bhopal in 1984 are not available with the Madhya Pradesh government, state's aviation directorate has said.
A Delhi court on Wednesday allowed the Central Bureau of Investigation to seek extradition of Union Carbide Corporation chairman Warren Anderson, an accused in the 1984 Bhopal Gas Tragedy case, from the United States.
A Delhi court on Wednesday allowed the Central Bureau of Investigation to seek extradition of Union Carbide Corporation chairman Warren Anderson, an accused in the 1984 Bhopal Gas Tragedy case, from the United States.
Even after the passage of 27 years, a consensus -- between the government and the non-government -- on the number of victims of Bhopal gas disaster is elusive.
The Supreme Court on Thursday set a six-month deadline for removal and disposal of toxic waste of the the Union Carbide factory in Bhopal and asked the Centre and Madhya Pradesh government to do the job within the stipulated time frame.
The US has dismissed as "incorrect" reports that it is linking India's efforts to seek more compensation from the Union Carbide in the Bhopal gas tragedy with the bilateral investment ties, saying it is committed to building a strong relationship with the country.
The government said on Wednesday that charges against former Union Carbide chief Warren Anderson were not watered down and even patted the Central Bureau of Investigation for standing on its ground to seek his extradition on serious charges despite the then attorney general opining to the contrary.
The Opposition on Wednesday charged the government with failing to ensure justice for the victims of the Bhopal gas tragedy."Justice and accountability has been the real casualty," Bharatiya Janata Party leader Ravi Shankar Prasad said while initiating a discussion on the issue.He pointed out that 26 years have passed and 20,000 people died in the incident and asked the government to disclose the exact number of deaths in its record.
Dubbing as "paltry" the relief announced recently for Bhopal disaster victims, the opposition on Wednesday demanded a substantial increase in it and asked the government to become a party to a petition filed in a US court to extract compensation from American firm Dow Chemicals.
The Central Bureau of Investigation on Tuesday filed an appeal in the sessions court in Bhopal, seeking enhancement of the light punishment of two years of imprisonment awarded to convicts, including the then Union Carbide of India Ltd Chairman Keshub Mahindra, in the Bhopal gas tragedy case.
A bus-borne museum will take the experiences of Bhopal gas victims round the country, says Rrishi Raote
The Madhya Pradesh Bharatiya Janata Party has demanded a judicial review of former prime minister Rajiv Gandhi's role in then Union Carbide Corporation Chief, Warren Anderson's exit from India after Bhopal gas tragedy.
Madhya Pradesh Chief Minister Shivraj Singh Chouhan on Wednesday said he was 'disappointed' that Prime Minister Manmohan Singh did not discuss the extradition issue of Union Carbide chief Warren Anderson and the compensation for Bhopal gas disaster victims during his meeting with United States President Barack Obama. "It was expected that the prime minister would discuss the Bhopal gas tragedy with Obama, but he did not do so," Chouhan told reporters.
The entire effort to artificially bury the Bhopal legacy is misguided. Unfortunately, the legacy lives on. Justice demands that it is brought to an honourable, dignified closure in a fair and transparent manner. The Group of Ministers has failed to do that, writes Praful Bidwai.
Keswani witnessed the entire saga of deception of the victims of Bhopal by the Indian and American governments and multinational corporations. He narrates how Union Carbide Corporation's fatal cost-cutting measures sealed Bhopal's fate.
The Bharatiya Janata Party and the Left Front on Monday slammed the Group of Ministers on the Bhopal gas issue for recommending that the government pick up the tab on payment of compensation to victims."The GoM report has disappointed the people," BJP spokesperson Shahnawaz Hussain said. Communist Party of India - Marxist leader Nilotpal Basu told PTI, "It is unfair that the taxpayer has to pick up the compensation bill."
The Group of Ministers on Bhopal gas tragedy is understood to have decided on Sunday to recommend filing of a curative petition in the Supreme Court to fix criminal liability, seek extradition of former Union Carbide Corp CEO Warren Anderson and cleaning up the complex by burying the toxic waste.
The Madhya Pradesh chief minister's office has returned a Right To Information application seeking details of the escape of the then Union Carbide Corporation chairman Warren Anderson from India.The office returned the application of social activist S C Agrawal, claiming that there was no position of a 'central public information officer' in the office of the chief minister.
Senior lawyer Ram Jethmalani on Thursday night suggested that the government, instead of trying to bring back former Union Carbide CEO Warren Anderson, should ensure action against those who had enabled him to leave India in 1984 after the Bhopal gas leak tragedy.
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