February 28, 2011

Press Statement

 

Representatives of five organizations of the survivors of the Union Carbide disaster in Bhopal today welcomed the admission of the curative petition for enhancement of compensation by the Supreme Court of India. Holding the Government of India primarily responsible for the collusive settlement of 1989, they stated that the government’s curative petition does not contain correct figures of death and extent of injuries caused by the disaster. They expressed hope that the Court will take necessary steps to arrive at a compensation sum based on correct figures of the impact of the disaster.

 

Rashida Bee a survivor and leader of one of the five organizations said that the figure of deaths presented by the Indian government is far lower than that reported by government research agencies. She said that statistical projections based on the mortality rates reported by the Indian Council of Medical Research and the Centre for Rehabilitation Studies show that the figures of exposure related death were five times more than that mentioned in the curative petition filed in the Supreme Court. She pointed out that registration of exposure related deaths was arbitrarily stopped in 1997 while the Centre for Rehabilitation Studies reported 436 deaths attributable to toxic exposure in 2000.

 

Another leader Balkrishna Namdeo pointed out that essential tests such as Pulmonary function test, exercise tolerance test and urinary thiocyanate tests were carried out on less than 10 % of the claimants as a result of which several hundred thousand victims were wrongly adjudged as having suffered only temporary injury. He said that while ICMR’s study reported 30 % of the victims to be suffering from mental illnesses, no claimant was assessed for mental injuries.

 

Safreen Khan of Children against Dow Carbide said that in the curative petition, the government had failed to mention that children born after the disaster were also entitled to compensation. She pointed out that according to studies published in international peer reviewed journals such as the Journal of American Medical Association and American Journal of Industrial Medicine, children born to gas exposed parents have suffered growth and development disorders.

 

According to Rachna Dhingra of Bhopal Group for Information and Action, the Indian government had wrongly claimed compensation for contamination of soil and ground water in the curative petition that was focused on the December 1984 gas disaster. She pointed out that the toxic contamination was unrelated to the gas disaster and was a result of routine and reckless dumping of hazardous waste by Union Carbide. She said that if the Indian government is sincere about making the company pay for the environmental and health damage caused by toxic contamination, it should join the ongoing litigation in the US federal court.

 

Rashida Bi, Bhopal Gas Peedit Mahila Stationery Karmchari Sangh 94256 88215

Nawab Khan, Bhopal Gas Peedit Mahila Purush Sangharsh Morcha 9302792493

Balkrishna Namdeo, Bhopal Gas Peedit Nirashrit Pension Bhogi Sangharsh Morcha 9826345423

Satinath Sarangi, Rachna Dhingra, Bhopal Group for Information and Action 9826167369

Safreen Khan Children Against Dow Carbide   9303831487

 

 

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