PM gives Bhopal GoM 10 days to file report

Amidst growing outrage over last week’s verdict on the Bhopal gas tragedy, the Prime Minister, Dr Manmohan Singh, stepped in on Monday and directed the group of ministers (GoM) headed by the Union home minister, Mr P. Chidambaram, to report to the Union Cabinet within 10 days after assessing the “options and remedies available”.

Contrary to what has been reported so far — that the GoM under Mr Chidambaram was reconstituted following the trial court’s order in the gas leak case last week — the GoM was set up on May 26 while the Bhopal court order came on June 7. Therefore, its reconstitution had nothing to do with the Bhopal court’s verdict, said sources.Moreover, for all the chest-beating on the part of the BJP for the gas victims, it has now come to light that a BJP-led Madhya Pradesh government had rejected in 2008-09, a proposal to set up an empowered commission to look after the interests of those affected by the 1984 gas leak.

Sources told this newspaper that the proposal to set up such a commission had been made by the previous GoM headed by the senior Congress leader, Mr Arjun Singh since 2004. At present, Mr Singh himself is being slammed for his role in allowing the former Union Carbide Corporation chief, Mr Warren Anderson, to escape.

With the proposal for the empowered commission not passing muster with the BJP-led state government, the Centre was unable to push ahead with it, said sources. The Centre was chary of being accused of disturbing the federal structure if it went ahead with the commission without the state government’s concurrence.

“Not everybody agreed on the commission and, in particular, the then state government did not support it,” said sources. The state government reportedly took the plea that it would take care of the issues and thus no commission was needed.