Worried over the adverse political fall-out of the controversies in the aftermath of the Bhopal gas tragedy verdict, the Manmohan Singh government has expanded the ambit and scope of the Group of Ministers (GoM) headed by Union home minister P Chidambaram and asked him to look into “all aspects” of the
Bhopal gas leak issue.
While the mandate of the Arjun Singh-led GoM constituted in 2004 and 2006 was confined to relief and rehabilitation, Chidambaram has been mandated to look into legal proceedings against former Union Carbide CEO Warren Anderson, and negotiations with related companies for enhanced compensation.
Also, Union finance minister Pranab Mukherjee confirmed on Saturday that “India will request the US government for the extradition of Warren Anderson.”
In order to clear the air around allegations that former PM Rajiv Gandhi had a hand in the escape of Anderson within 24 hours of his arriving in Bhopal in December 1984, as also in the state settling for an inadequate compensation from the Union Carbide Corporation in 1989, the government wants Chidambaram, law minister Veerappa Moily and minister of state in the PMO, Prithviraj Chavan, among others, to re-look at all these issues. It will seriously explore the possibility of bringing Anderson to India for trial.
The party and the government are also worried over the political fall-out of the AICC general secretary Digvijay Singh’s comment that there could have been “American pressure” in Anderson’s dramatic release. Singh is currently in the US and will be returning to the country only in the first week of July. The silence of the then Madhya Pradesh chief minister Arjun Singh has made life more difficult for the UPA government.
As part of the damage control exercise, it was decided that the GoM should have the power to decide on all issues pertaining to relief and rehabilitation, fast-tracking court cases pending in Jabalpur and other courts in India, disposal of the chemical waste at the plant site in Bhopal, and the extradition of Anderson from the US.
The UPA regime is hopeful that the Obama administration will be favourably inclined to assist India in this regard, considering the magnitude of the disaster and the miniscule relief that the victims have received. The US government may device ways and means to enhance the one-time settlement amount for compensation (amounting to Rs715 crore) as a gesture of goodwill between the two countries.
However, Anderson’s direct complicity in the disaster has to be proved in US courts for there to be a water-tight case for extradition.
Meanwhile, the process of cleaning-up the killer Union Carbide plant at Bhopal has begun, albeit slowly. A senior law officer associated with the litigation related to the clean-up told DNA that “a site for incineration has been located near Bhopal and the process has begun.” He added that trial runs for disposing of the lethal waste that has been lying at the site for the last 26 years have been completed, and the process would be carried forward.
