The victims of the industrial disaster do not seem to be taken in by the compensation deal announced for them and their approach and attitude is still marked by doubt.
A day after the government announced a Rs1265.56 crore relief and remediation package for the Bhopal gas tragedy victims, a visit to affected areas has revealed that people are very sceptical about the enhanced compensation recommended by the Group of Ministers (GOM) for them.
The victims of the industrial disaster do not seem to be taken in by the compensation deal announced for them and their approach and attitude is still marked by doubt.
"We do not believe in any such announcements and we will have faith in them only when we receive some money in our hands," a 75-year-old Surjobai, who runs a tea stall opposite the defunct Union Carbide factory said.
Surjobai's grouse is that prime minister Manmohan Singh has not paid a single visit to the gas affected areas till now but she is quick to add that even Madhya Pradesh chief minister Shivraj Singh Chouhan has skipped it.
"If Chouhan who lives in Bhopal cannot find time to visit the gas affected areas, how can one complain about Singh, who stays in New Delhi," she said.
Madhya Pradesh gas relief and rehabilitation minister, Babulal Gaur may have visited the factory, but even he has not been to the gas affected areas, she complained.
Surjobai, who was in news recently after her outburst on a live TV show following the June 7 verdict, expressing her anger at the concerned authorities is however happy that late prime minister Rajiv Gandhi visited the gas affected areas thrice.
Another gas victim, Manik Lal who was under the influence of liquor on that fateful night, recounts that his father had advised people to cover their faces with moist cloth after the toxic gas leakage.
"But I could not do so, as I was drunk... and I doubt that they we going to get the enhanced compensation as announced by the GOM," he said.
65-year-old Abrar Mohammad, who is left with a flawed eyesight after the gas leak, said that the treatment given at the hospitals for the victims leaves much to be desired.
"They normally give two tablets to us irrespective of the disease we are suffering from," he said adding perhaps they believe in the Hindi adage 'har marz ke liye ek dawa'.
"Also, a lot of things are being talked about the compensation but I am not sure that all gas affected persons will get it," he said.
However, the victims praised the efforts made by the government in providing them clean water by constructing an overhead tank connected with the Kolar pipeline in the city and also through huge water tanks being filled by Municipal Corporation tankers regularly.
Gaur, who recently attended the marathon meeting of GOM on the issue of gas tragedy said that after the announcement of GOM's recommendations, only kins of 5,295 (dead) will get a compensation of Rs ten lakh; 3,199 permanently disabled persons, Rs five lakh; 33,672 temporarily disabled persons, Rs three lakh; and 42 whose abilities were temporarily suffered
Rs one lakh, totalling upto 42,208 cases.
"I am totally unhappy with the recommendations of the Group of Ministers (GoM) which met in New Delhi to discuss the relief measures to be taken for the gas tragedy victims after the Bhopal court judgement," Gaur had said.
The minister opined that there was not much to rejoice as compensation will be given only these 42,208 cases out of the total 5,48,245 gas affected victims.
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