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PM urged to lead the nation in paying homage to gas victims

BHOPAL: Victims of the 1984 Bhopal gas tragedy have urged Prime Minister Manmohan Singh to visit Bhopal and “lead the nation in paying homage to the gas victims” on the 25th anniversary of the biggest industrial disaster in the world.Bhopal Gas Peedith Mahila Udyog Sanghathan and Bhopal Gas Peedith Sangharsh Sahayog Samiti have in a letter to the Prime Minister expressed “shock over the UPA government’s silence over the state of the victims”.

“We want the honourable Prime Minister to see the condition of the victims and the state of the medical access they have, which is pathetic,” said Abdul Jabbar, a prominent activist leading the struggle for justice to the gas victims.The letter also expresses concern over the government’s indifference towards the gas victims: “We cannot help notice that your honourable self had led the nation in paying homage to the late Prime Minister Indira Gandhi on her 25th death anniversary. We gather from personal knowledge and through media reports that a series of events were lined up to commemorate Indira Gandhi’s death anniversary from 31 October, 2009, to 19 November, 2009, which happens to be Indiraji’s birth anniversary,” said the letter.

It said if Mrs. Gandhi’s death anniversary programmes could go on for such a long duration, why couldn’t the Prime Minister spare some time for the victims of the tragedy. The gas leak in the pesticide plant of the Union Carbide factory in Bhopal in 1984 had resulted in the death of over 20,000 people and caused injuries to over 550,000 others. The official toll of dead and injured gas victims as determined by the office of the Welfare Commissioner, Bhopal, through the process of adjudication is 574,367. The letter urges the Prime Minister “to visit Bhopal on December 3 so that you could not only pay homage to the victims but also make a direct assessment of the travails that the survivors are continuing to face even 25 years after the tragedy”.

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PM urged to lead the nation in paying homage to gas victims

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