Accusing the Group of Ministers (GoM) on Bhopal of completely ignoring those who died in the gas tragedy, Madhya Pradesh chief minister Shivraj Singh Chauhan today demanded a special session of the ministerial body to discuss the additional compensation issue.
He said that more than 90 per cent of the gas victims will not get any additional compensation as only some amount has been recommended for 42,166 victims by the GoM and more than 5,20,000 victims recognised by the Welfare Commissioner have been left out.
"I must also point out that the GOM completely ignored 10,047 gas victims who died as a result of the gas tragedy. This group has not been given any additional compensation," Chauhan said.
"I would urge that the entire question of additional compensation be revisited and a special session of the GoM be convened for this subject," he said.
Last month, the GoM led by home minister P Chidambaram favoured enhanced compensation for victims and a government-sponsored clean-up of the Union Carbide factory premise.
On the disposal of toxic waste, the chief minister said there was resentment among locals in the Pithampur area in Dhar district on the issue as they "have a lot of misgivings about the after affects of burning of chemical waste and there is opposition to this act."
Chauhan stressed on the need to revisit the issue of the disposal of the toxic waste and find all possible options including the option of burning the waste.
Assuring the centre of full support for the disposal of the toxic waste, the chief minister said it should be done under the guidance of the oversight committee set up by the GoM.
He also urged the centre to sanction the state government's proposal to create a corpus of Rs500 crore for the relief and rehabilitation of gas victims.
