Information and Broadcasting Minister Ambika Soni (File Photo)
The government on Thursday announced a comprehensive package for Bhopal Gas victims. It is also examining ways to extradite the then Union Carbide chief Warren Anderson, whom a Bhopal court has declared a proclaimed offender.
Announcing the decisions after the cabinet approved all the 22 recommendations of the GoM, Information and Broadcasting Minister Ambika Soni said the cabinet approved an ex-gratin of 10 lakh rupees for the next of the kin of those killed in the tragedy.
Five lakh rupees have been approved for those suffering permanent disability and two lakh for those suffering from cancer or renal failure. Ambika Soni said that the government also decided to file a petition in the Supreme Court for review of its judgment of September 9, 1996, by which the "graver sections" of the IPC were quashed. She said that the government is also looking at liability of Dow Chemicals, which has acquired Union Carbide.
The GoM was reconstituted late last month, ahead of the June 7 verdict of a Bhopal court sentencing seven Indian executives of Union Carbide to only two years in jail. They were immediately granted bail.
Ambika Soni said that the cabinet also gave its nod for setting up of a national institute of paramedical sciences and such regional institutes at an estimated expenditure of over 1156 crore rupees. She said that the cabinet also approved a scheme to support the state government medical colleges for conducting paramedical courses through a one time grant.
The minister said that the measure would lead to additional intake capacity of about 14500 personnel in the health delivery system annually.
