Madhya Pradesh’s ruling BJP is once again locked in a tussle with activist groups on whether the relief package for 1984 gas disaster victims should be extended to all 56 municipal wards of the city or over a more precisely defined area.
Bhopal Gas Peedit Mahila Udyog Sangathan convenor Abdul Jabbar told this newspaper that the BJP, which has been continuously raising the question of covering the remaining 20 out of 56 city wards for interim relief, revived the demand following the June 7 ruling in the gas leak criminal case by Bhopal’s chief judicial magistrate.
He said the gas affected area had been defined by the Indian Council of Medical Research and that his outfit would oppose the BJP-led demand.
Two years after the disaster, on December 3, 1986, the MP government had released an official publication in which it showed a much smaller area as gas affected than what was claimed by residents at the time of the leak, which was also corroborated by the medical history of victims living in other parts of the city. It is on record that the ICMR had conducted its survey in a restricted area and not across the entire city, ignoring the demand for a continuous pilot study of Bhopal’s population over a prolonged period of time.
The 1986 document listed JP Nagar, Kazi Camp, Tila Jamalpura, Shahjahanabad, Model Ground Stop Bus Stand Chhola Road, Kain-chi Chola Railway Colony, Station Bajaria, Chandbad, Noormahal, Hawa Mahal and Fatehgarh as gas affected. Strangely, other afflicted areas like Ram Nagar, Ginnori, Sultania Zanana Hospital, Barkhedi, Jehang-irabad, Vidhan Sabha, 45 Bungalow and Central School were ignored.