Survivors of the Union Carbide disaster in Bhopal ended their protest at Jantar Mantar here on Friday evening after assurance by the Minister of Chemicals and Fertilizers of meeting their demands.
Five women survivors and their supporters broke their water-less fast on the fourth day with sips of water offered by Joint Secretary AJV Prasad who came to the protest site.
Survivors at the protest site hugged the fasting women and each other, many among them weeping with joy. Sweets were distributed and music played at the protest site as the survivors packed their bags to return to Bhopal.
“On our both the demands, the Minister has agreed to the determination of compensation on the basis of data from medical research and hospital records instead of the faulty medical categorisation that we were agitating against.” said Rashida Bee, President of the Bhopal Gas Peedit Mahila Stationery Karmchari Sangh.
Balkrishna Namdeo, president of the Bhopal Gas Peedit Nirashrit Pension Bhogi Sangharsh Morcha, said that the Minster had agreed that the curative petition filed by the Central Government in the Supreme Court would be amended on the basis of figures of death and extent of injuries caused by the disaster from scientific research and hospital records. He also said the Minister had also assured that the Government would seek urgent hearing of the amended curative petition.
“We were protesting the denial of additional compensation of Rs1 lakh to 93 per cent of the survivors by categorizing their disaster related injuries as minor. And now the Minister has assured us that categorization will no longer be the basis for additional compensation. “ said Nawab Khan, president of the Bhopal Gas Peedit Mahila Purush Sangharsh Morcha.
“We see this as the first major official initiative to correct the historical wrongs in Bhopal. We thank the Minister for beginning the process of rectifying a 27 years old blunder that is at the root of denial of justice to Bhopal survivors.” said Rachna Dhingra of the Bhopal Group for Information and Action.