The Supreme Court (SC) has criticised the Union government for delaying the release of Rs 27 crore sanctioned to better equip the two hospitals at Bhopal to provide medical assistance to over 500,000 gas victims. The court directed the government to file an affidavit within two weeks detailing reasons for the delay. The court was responding to a public interest petition filed by the Bhopal Gas Peedith Mahila Sanghatan.