Interim relief payments have thrown up touts galore, and final compensation will only increase the rampant corruption.

After years of inaction, things seem to be moving with lightning speed in Bhopal. The Supreme Court has directed the Reserve Bank of India to transfer the money paid by Union Carbide as compensation

Nearly eight years after the Bhopal gas disaster, the legal battle over a settlement continues. But for the efforts of public interest agencies and public spirited advocates, the victims and the legal system would have been mired in a horrendous plight

Order passed in the Court of the Chief Judicial Magistrate Bhopal regarding attachment of the properties of UCC (USA).

Judgement on Bhopal Gas Disaster on the review petitions filed by various petitioners was announced by the five judge constitutional bench on 3rd October, 1991.

In the suit filed by the Union of India against Union Carbide Corporation (UCC) filed before the Southern District Court at New York, the presiding judge directed the utilisation of 5 Million Dollars deposited by UCC towards Interim Relief Fund, for affording relief to the victims of the Bhopal Gas Leak disaster through the Indian Red Cross Society.

Supreme Court judgement dated 14/02/1989 on Bhopal Gas Disaster. The Court was of the opinion that the case was fit for an overall settlement between the parties covering all litigations, claims, rights and liabilities related to and arising out of the Disaster.

It is difficult to imagine how a greater tragedy could occur to a peacetime population than the deadly gas leak in Bhopal on the night of December 2-3, 1984. The survivors of the dead victims, the injured and others who suffered, or may in the future suffer due to the disaster, are entitled to compensation.

The deaths in Bhopal caused by Union Carbide's noxious fumes should not have happened at all. Equally unnecessary and unwarranted is the continuing suffering of those who managed to survive. Situations that caused a tragedy of such magnitude could and should have been averted.

This is the chapter of the State of India's Environment: the second citizen's report 1984-85.

Pages