October 10, 2022

Bhopal disaster survivors’ organizations reached New Delhi today to submit a legal representation to the Minister of Chemicals and Fertilizers, Dr. Mansukh Mandaviya.

The Union of India
Attn: Dr Mansukh Mandaviya
Minister of Chemicals and Fertilizers
Room No. 348; ‘A’ Wing, Nirman Bhavan,
New Delhi – 110 011

Dear Sir,
We, the undersigned, address you today in the understanding that the government you serve is yet to provide instructions to the Solicitor General for the hearing of the Curative Petition for additional compensation for the 1984 Union Carbide disaster in
Bhopal, scheduled for Tuesday, October 11.

As leaders of the Bhopal survivors’ organizations, who are co-petitioners in the Curative Petition, we are apprehensive that the government will not therefore press the matter during the hearing. Given the gravity and urgency of the situation, affecting tens
of thousands of India’s most vulnerable, most grievously wronged citizens, with one voice we urge you:

1. To ensure that the Government of India discharges its statutory and constitutional duty towards the victims of the Union Carbide disaster in Bhopal by continuing to prosecute the Curative Petition to the best of its ability and resources;
2. To ensure that the Government of India correct the numbers of deaths and injuries presented before the Supreme Court within the Curative Petition by the Union of India, numbers that are shown to be provably, egregiously false by data collected by scientific and governmental agencies, which have long been in
   the government’s understanding and possession.

We must remind you that the present Curative Petition was filed by the UPA government after it realised that the Bhopal disaster had not been adequately compensated by Union Carbide and its current owner Dow Chemical, and that the 1989 civil settlement instead constituted a “gross and irremediable injustice” perpetrated
upon the survivors.

We do not forget that among the most prominent voices clamouring, twelve years ago, for the UPA government to remedy this injustice before the Supreme Court, were authorised spokespeople for the Bharatiya Janta Party. The present government’s failure to pursue the Curative Petition is most likely to be perceived not only as an  example of rank hypocrisy, but also a betrayal of the commitments made through the Bhopal Act and the responsibilities bestowed by the Constitution, which are set out in detail in the accompanying representation on behalf of the survivors. We urge you to act, and  act immediately.

View the Legal Representation

 

Rashida Bi,	Nawab Khan, Shezadi Bee & Nasreen,	Balkrishna Namdeo,	Rachna Dhingra, Satinath Sarangi	Nousheen Khan,
Bhopal Gas Peedit Mahila Stationery Karmchari Sangh 9425688215	Bhopal Gas Peedit Mahila Purush Sangharsh Morcha 741193309	Bhopal Gas Peedit Nirashrit Pensionbhogi Sangharsh Morcha 9826345423	Bhopal Group for Information and Action 9826167369	Children Against Dow Carbide

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