Madhya Pradesh judicial panel to inquire into Bhopal gas tragedy
By IANSWednesday, June 30, 2010
BHOPAL - Madhya Pradesh’s Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) government Wednesday decided to set up a judicial commission to inquire into the 1984 Bhopal gas tragedy, with the focus on probing the release on bail of Warren Anderson, the then chief of Union Carbide.
“A retired high court judge is to be appointed for one-member enquiry commission to probe into circumstances of Bhopal gas tragedy. The commission will focus on reason of the release of Anderson,” Chief Minister Shivraj Singh Chouhan told reporters.
He said that government will soon declare the name of the judge who will be asked to submit the report within a stipulated time frame.
Chouhan said he was “thoroughly disappointed” by Prime Minister Manmohan Singh who had skipped the Anderson extradition issue during his meeting with US President Barack Obama on the sidelines of the G-20 summit in Toronto.
“I was expecting that the prime minister will raise the issue of Anderson’s extradition to India and compensation to Bhopal gas victims in his meeting with Obama, but I was disappointed,” the chief minister remarked.
“I have written a letter to prime minister and brought the matter to his attention about the discriminatory behaviour in planned distribution of compensation package. It’s not a fair decision by the government to compensate only a few thousands,” Chouhan said.
