State unaware of Central Pollution Control Board report on Carbide waste disposal
BHOPAL: Officials of the state have pleaded ignorance about reports that Central Pollution Control Board
(CPCB) had deemed Pithampur incineration facility as suitable for trial
burning of the toxic wastes lying at the Union Carbide Bhopal plant.
Pithampur is among 21 TSDF sites, being evaluated for incineration of
some 350 metric tons of toxic waste laying abandoned Carbide factory.
Faced with opposition from local residents and villagers at Pithampur,
the Madhya Pradesh government has contested incineration of Bhopal's
toxic waste in the facility.
"We cannot comment on the findings until the CPCB
files the findings in form of an affidavit in the Supreme Court," said
an official of the Bhopal gas relief and rehabilitation department. The
matter is posted for February 14.
Meanwhile, principal
secretary of Bhopal gas relief and rehabilitation, Praveer Krishna, said
in case a decision to incinerate the toxic waste at Pithampur is taken
by the apex court, still the local people would have to be taken into
confidence before burning of the toxic waste at the treatment, storage
and disposal facility (TSDF).
"If any trial run is to be
carried out, local population would have to be educated and capacity of
facility would also have to be evaluated by experts," said Krishna.
http://timesofindia.indiatimes.com/city/bhopal/State-unaware-of-Central-Pollution-Control-Board-report-on-Carbide-waste-disposal/articleshow/18252053.cms
Bhopal gas tragedy: MP govt to provide health facilities to victims
Jan 24, 2013According to an official release issued in Bhopal yesterday, Gaur also asked for schemes to be chalked out for the health, economic, social and environmental and rehabilitation of the 1984 gas leak-affected persons.
Discussing the possibilities of making Bhopal Gas Tragedy, Relief and Rehabilitation a permanent department, the meeting informed that the department’s jurisdiction is restricted to Bhopal Municipal Corporation limits. An expenditure of about Rs 10 crore towards creation of 476 new posts in the State Gas Relief Department was granted in-principle approval during the meeting.
Currently, out of 56 wards in the city, 36 have been declared as gas-affected. Based on the health damages suffered due to gas leak residents of the remaining 20 wards were also given compensation. To ensure medical rehabilitation of the persons suffering from long-term effects of Bhopal gas tragedy six major hospitals with a total of 634 beds were established, the release added.
http://health.india.com/news/bhopal-gas-tragedy-mp-govt-to-provide-health-facilities-to-victims/
भोपाल गैस त्रासदी: अब सुनवाई 23 फरवरी को
जिला एवं सत्र न्यायाधीश सुषमा खोसला ने राज्य सरकार को अपना पक्ष रखने के लिए अंतिम मौके देते हुए 23 फरवरी की तारीख तय की है। शनिवार को सुनवाई के दौरान भोपाल गैस पीडि़त महिला उद्योग संगठन तथा भोपाल गैस पीडि़त संघर्ष सहयोग समिति की ओर से मामले में हो रही देरी को लेकर आपत्ति दर्ज कराई गई।
शनिवार को जिला अदालत में गैस त्रासदी से जुड़े तीन अलग-अलग मामलों की सुनवाई हुई। सीजेएम की अदालत में तत्कालीन कलेक्टर मोतीसिंह और तत्कालीन एसपी स्वराजपुरी के खिलाफ पेश मामले में बयान दर्ज किए गए। वहीं, डाउ केमिकल को नोटिस और एंडरसन के प्रत्यर्पण के संबंध में सीबीआई से स्टेटस रिपोर्ट पेश करने के मामले में सीबीआई की ओर से उनके वकील अदालत में हाजिर हुए।
http://www.bhaskar.com/article/MP-BPL-bhopal-gas-tragedy-the-hearing-on-february-23-4154094-NOR.html
Bhopal tragedy: Court raps govt for seeking more time
Milind Ghatwai : Bhopal, Sun Jan 20 2013
The Madhya Pradesh government was left red-faced Saturday when a court, hearing a plea seeking harsher sentence for the convicts in the Bhopal gas tragedy case, objected to its request seeking more time.District Sessions Judge Sushma Khosla said she was not in favour of giving more time in such a sensitive matter, and fixed February 23 as the date when the state will have the last opportunity to present its arguments.
Abdul Jabbar of Bhopal Gas Peedit Mahila Udyog Sangathan had filed an application to protest the delay in the matter.
A CJM court had on June 7, 2010, sentenced the accused, including industrialist Keshu Mahindra, to two years in prison, in a verdict that led to a national outcry over what was argued as a meager punishment vastly disproportionate to the scale of the disaster that took thousands of lives. In the wake of the outcry, the state government had challenged the verdict and sought enhancement of jail term for the accused.
A government pleader said the state could not argue its case on Saturday because the advocate general had taken ill. He attributed to past delays in the matter to late receipt of replies from the respondents.
Jabbar alleged that with the passage of time, the government's interest in the matter declined and it showed little urgency to file its replies on time. On February 23, the court will take a call on admissibility of the revision plea.
Meanwhile, on the same date a CJM court will hear a plea to make Dow Chemical, USA, a party in the criminal case. A stay granted by the high court to the company had been vacated last year.
http://www.indianexpress.com/news/Bhopal-tragedy--Court-raps-govt-for-seeking-more-time/1061927/
Head
of Supreme Court panel for Bhopal victims quits
Jamal Ayub, TNN Jan 9, 2013, 06.50AM IST
BHOPAL: The head of the Supreme Court appointed monitoring committee to
oversee the functioning of hospitals meant for the treatment of Bhopal gas
disaster survivors, Dr H H Trivedi, resigned citing indifference by the Madhya
Pradesh government."Dr Trivedi quit the committee on January 2 due to the government neglecting the monitoring committee," Purnendu Shukla, member of the committee said.
The resignation came a day before the SC sought a status report within two weeks from the government about medical rehabilitation of the victims.
"I have no comment to offer on the support being given by the government to the monitoring committee. I am resigning on health reasons," Trivedi said. Apart from Trivedi, the four-member committee comprised member secretary and director medical education S C Tiwari, Gandhi medical college dean Nirbhay Shrivastava and Purnendu Shukla.
"We are empowered but still powerless. Cooperation from government representatives has been dismal. It has been insulting to say the least," said Shukla. At least a dozen meeting had been cancelled or postponed in the past four months, he added.
The SC in August 9, 2012 had directed the state government to ensure facilities such as office space with furniture and office staff including a secretary and a doctor (to act as coordinating officer) and a Hindi and English stenographer-cum-typist along with apeon to the committee.
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sathyu (bhopal)
10 Jan, 2013 04:39 AM the supreme court set up the monitoring committee in 2004. the committee was supposed to monitor the functioning of hospitals run by the madhya pradesh government (mostly with funds from the centre) to provide free medical care to the survivors of the december 1984 union carbide disaster in bhopal. over a period of two and half years the committee that incidentally had a majority of former government employees submitted six reports to the supreme court after making 50 odd visits to the hospitals for survivors. these six reports outlined the appalling state of the hospitals - acute shortage of doctors, poor quality medicines, malfunctioning equipment, absence of treatment protocols. the reports also made recommendations to the state government for addressing these critical issues. none of these recommendations were followed. in its seventh report to the supreme court the monitoring committee asked the supreme court to either disband it (as it had not been able to make any difference to the state of the hospitals) or give it certain powers so that it could have its recommendations followed by the state government. in august last year the supreme court decided to give certain powers to the committee chaired by dr trivedi. since then the state government (that had opposed the empowerment of the committee) has followed a policy of humiliating the committee members through the director of medical education about whom less said the better. this is what has resulted in dr trivedi's resignation. meanwhile well over a hundred twenty thousand victims of the disaster continue to battle chronic physical and mental illnesses and the funds meant for their medical care have gone towards building infrastructure and buying expensive equipment that have no use other than providing hefty commissions to the minister of bhopal gas tragedy relief and rehabilitation and his pet officials in the state government.
10 Jan, 2013 04:39 AM the supreme court set up the monitoring committee in 2004. the committee was supposed to monitor the functioning of hospitals run by the madhya pradesh government (mostly with funds from the centre) to provide free medical care to the survivors of the december 1984 union carbide disaster in bhopal. over a period of two and half years the committee that incidentally had a majority of former government employees submitted six reports to the supreme court after making 50 odd visits to the hospitals for survivors. these six reports outlined the appalling state of the hospitals - acute shortage of doctors, poor quality medicines, malfunctioning equipment, absence of treatment protocols. the reports also made recommendations to the state government for addressing these critical issues. none of these recommendations were followed. in its seventh report to the supreme court the monitoring committee asked the supreme court to either disband it (as it had not been able to make any difference to the state of the hospitals) or give it certain powers so that it could have its recommendations followed by the state government. in august last year the supreme court decided to give certain powers to the committee chaired by dr trivedi. since then the state government (that had opposed the empowerment of the committee) has followed a policy of humiliating the committee members through the director of medical education about whom less said the better. this is what has resulted in dr trivedi's resignation. meanwhile well over a hundred twenty thousand victims of the disaster continue to battle chronic physical and mental illnesses and the funds meant for their medical care have gone towards building infrastructure and buying expensive equipment that have no use other than providing hefty commissions to the minister of bhopal gas tragedy relief and rehabilitation and his pet officials in the state government.
Arnest (India.(Gujarat, Baroda))
09 Jan, 2013 11:03 AM The BJP government in the Madhya Pradesh has very clearly dis obey the order of the Supreme Court.order of 12th August, 2012. This is an example of the ignorant of the order of the Supreme Court by Madhya Pradesh government administration in the case of Medical rehabilitation of the victims of the gas tragedy in Bhopal in 1982. The resignation of the Dr.H.M Trivedi from the committee shows the dissatisfaction over government bureaucratic attitude without fearing of the Supreme court order in the matter. The investigative committee remain powerless without proper guidelines and facilities to be provided by them. The Supreme Court must take punitive steps against the officers/secretaries and other authorities.This is a very serious matter and the Chief Minister is directly responsible in the matter.
Jamal Ayub (Bhopal) replies to Arnest
09 Jan, 2013 07:56 PM Thanks. Future course of action would be decided by the courts. Watch this space.
09 Jan, 2013 07:56 PM Thanks. Future course of action would be decided by the courts. Watch this space.
Garib Manus (India) replies to Jamal Ayub
09 Jan, 2013 09:01 PM Dear Sir, you have written that, "Dr H H Trivedi, resigned citing indifference by the Madhya Pradesh government." Is there a bit of discrepancy here?...Dr. Trivedi has reportedly said in the same news story that he is leaving due to HIS poor health (if I understood correctly), while another member of the panel, Mr. Shukla, has said that Dr. Trivedi has resigned due to the lack of cooperation from the state govt? I will appreciate if you could clarify. Secondly, in any event, is there some stats available on the money and effort spent, and the actual implementation?
09 Jan, 2013 09:01 PM Dear Sir, you have written that, "Dr H H Trivedi, resigned citing indifference by the Madhya Pradesh government." Is there a bit of discrepancy here?...Dr. Trivedi has reportedly said in the same news story that he is leaving due to HIS poor health (if I understood correctly), while another member of the panel, Mr. Shukla, has said that Dr. Trivedi has resigned due to the lack of cooperation from the state govt? I will appreciate if you could clarify. Secondly, in any event, is there some stats available on the money and effort spent, and the actual implementation?
http://articles.timesofindia.indiatimes.com/2013-01-09/india/36236551_1_h-h-trivedi-purnendu-shukla-madhya-pradesh-government
Rs.8cr spent on ICMR;
not a single research on Bhopal gas victims
Thursday January 24, 2013 10:09:59 PM, Pervez Bari,
ummid.com
Bhopal: Addressing a press conference the representatives of
five organizations working among the survivors of the Union Carbide gas
disaster in Bhopal, world's worst industrial catastrophe, condemned the
National Institute for Research on Environmental Health, (NIREH), for betraying
the promises made during its founding in October 2010.
The organizations said that NIREH was established as the
31st centre of the Indian Council of Medical Research, (ICMR), on 11th October
2010 with the primary objective of carrying out research that would benefit the
survivors of the disaster who are still battling chronic illnesses. They said
that despite the passage of more than two years, the centre has published only
a manual for treatment of mental illnesses and less than two hundred survivors
have received help in treatment for chronic respiratory diseases and eye
problems.
Based on the documents obtained through the RTI Act the
organizations said that NIREH has spent more than Rs.8/- crores in the last two
years and has imported close to 30 equipments from USA, Germany, Japan and
other countries. However, only two of these equipments have been put to use so
far.
The organizations said that of the five Bhopal based
consultants employed by NIREH, three have full time jobs. In addition to their
salaries for their full time jobs these three have been drawing Rs.40,000/- per
month from NIREH as part time consultants. Interestingly, their duty hours at
their places of fulltime employment overlap their duty hours as part time
consultants at NIREH.
The organizations charged that the majority of the
consultants do not have the required qualifications to carry out the research
projects proposed by them and none have published any papers on the topics
proposed by them.
One of the consultants –Dr. Brajendra Mishra who is supposed
to be the Principal Investigator for a project to set up a registry on birth
defects has never worked on the subject and there is proof that that parts of
his research proposal at NIREH has been plagiarized from publications available
on the internet. Moreover, in a clear demonstration of conflict of interest his
Rs.3 crores project proposes providing treatment to children with birth defects
at the Chirayu Hospital whereas he is a professor of community medicine in the
medical college run by the same establishment.
Another consultant Dr. Arun Bhatnagar who is the Principal
Investigator of a study on birth defects is according to his own website
(http://www.cosmeticandplasticsurgerybhopal.com/) is a specialist in
"cosmetic and plastic surgery and performs face lifts, implants, fat injections,
breast and other surgeries". He has no published study on birth defects
and his Rs.1 crore project is awaiting approval by ICMR.
The organizations said that except the manual on mental
health care there has been no publication by the NIREH in the last more than
two years. The technical report on long term epidemiological study from 1995 to
2010 has been revised four times but remains at the draft stage. A quarterly
bulletin in Hindi proposed in September 2011 remains to see the light of the
day.
The Press conference was addressed by the representatives of
the five NGOs namely Bhopal Gas Peedit Mahila Stationery Karamchari Sangh,
Bhopal Gas Peedit Mahila Purush Sangharsh Morcha, Bhopal Gas Peedit Nirashrit
Pension Bhogi Sangharsh Morcha, Children Against Dow-Carbide and Bhopal Group
for Information & Action.
It may be recalled here that on the intervening night of
December 2-3, 1984 Union Carbide pesticide manufacturing factory had spewed
poisonous Methyl Iso-cyanate gas whereby 3000 people had perished virtually
instantly and over the years more than 25000 have kissed death and the sad saga
is still continuing uninterruptedly. About half a million are suffering from
the side effects of the poisonous gas and several thousand people have been
maimed for life.
(pervezbari@eth.net)
http://www.ummid.com/news/2013/January/24.01.2013/amnt_spent_on_icmr_bhopal_gas.htm
Bhopal gas tragedy: Better treatment for victims in the offing
Bhopal: In a relief to the victims of Bhopal gas
tragedy, after some 28 years, the doctors would have a manual to treat
victims suffering from mental health problems and pulmonary problems in
Bhopal. It is being said that a clinical guide would be adopted by the
Indian Council of Medical Research (ICMR) during its scientific advisory
committee.
Around 40 top scientists have been invited to the committee meeting, which will be held in the city on January 23.
It has been estimated that a large number of the gas tragedy
victims suffer from pulmonary ailments and as many as one-fourth of the
total suffer from mental disorders. The ICMR has stated that there is
need of a comprehensive response to these victims and has formed a panel
of doctors to create the manual.
http://daily.bhaskar.com/article/MP-BHO-bhopal-gas-tragedy-better-treatment-for-victims-in-the-offing-4147373-NOR.html
Bhopal: The fire still burns alive
Bhopal:Touching the deepest chords of a city
affected by a gruesome tragedy on the night of 2nd December, 1984, a
rock concert was organised by a city based NGO and a prominent science
college to draw attention to the plight of Bhopalites, who are still
facing the aftermath of the fateful gas leak.
Organised by Lokayat, a city based social welfare outfit, and
College of Engineering Pune, ‘Rock for Justice in Bhopal’ also saw
performances by the rock bands of SP College and HV Desai College.
Throwing light on the motive behind organising the concert, Alka
Joshi of Lokayat said that music was the best way by which the city
youth could be made awarded about the horrible tragedy.
“We still don’t have safe drinking water for some of our people
living in affected colonies. The concert is aimed at making their voices
heard at the highest level,” she added.
The 90-minute concert, besides rock songs from college bands, also
featured three videos which recalled the work done by various NGOs in
helping the people of Bhopal to physically and emotionally recuperate
from the Bhopal gas disaster, arguably the most evil disaster in recent
history.
“Over 20,000 people died in one of the worst disasters in recent
times. We want to keep the fire alive and ensure their fight for justice
doesn’t end,” remarked Alka.
http://daily.bhaskar.com/article/MP-BHO-bhopal-the-fire-still-burns-alive-4146819-NOR.html
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