All gas, still no relief for Bhopal victims

Shahid Noor, 27, had been on a hunger strike in Bhopal for the last six days. His demand: The Chief Minister deliver the promise he made to ...

Shahid Noor, 27, had been on a hunger strike in Bhopal for the last six days. His demand: The Chief Minister deliver the promise he made to Shahid and others orphaned by the Bhopal Gas tragedy nine years ago and provide them financial help and employment.

Chief Minister Digvijay Singh has accepted the demand for financial help but has stopped short of offering jobs. He is also yet to announce the amount of the grant. Shahid has been made similar promises in the past, but this time, he says he will wait for a month for the grant to come through after which he will sit on a fast in Delhi.

Callous administration

BHOPAL: A day after Shahid began his fast, all those left orphaned by the tragedy received a letter from the office of the Collector, Gas Relief, Bhopal. The subject: ‘Regarding application for self-employment of those orphaned in the Bhopal Gas Tragedy.’ The letter, dated July 3, tells them to provide details asked for in an attached form within three days. ‘‘You will be responsible for delay and it will be assumed that you do not want the job’’ says the letter. However, all of them received the letter on or after July 7. (ENS)

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Shahid’s is not an isolated case. The Bhopal Gas tragedy left 27 children orphaned. With nine of them married or settled elsewhere, those pressing for jobs and financial help add up to just 18. And if they continue to feel betrayed, they have reasons to.

Consider this news report published on December 3, 1994, on the 10th anniversary of the tragedy, when the 27 orphans met Digvijay for the first time: ‘‘Digvijay Singh today went to Kalyani Chitravas and met the orphans, who lost their parents during the Bhopal Gas Tragedy, and presented them with gifts…There are 27 such children.’’

The report cites a specific case: ‘‘Sunil today turned 18… He requested the Chief Minister for a licence for a kerosene dealership which was granted by the Chief Minister.’’ Unfortunately, nine years later, Sunil still has the same demand.

The Bhopal Gas tragedy victims say they have grown up all these years with little or no help from the state government. Suman Khuswah, 27, who lost her parents and two brothers in the tragedy, is a graduate. ‘‘I teach at a private school on a very low salary. I never received any help from the government for my education. The Chief Minister had told us to pursue our studies so that we may get good jobs, well we haven’t got any jobs at all.’’

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‘‘All of us have grown up together. We are very close. Every year, we would be taken to meet someone in Delhi. From Rajiv Gandhi to V.P. Singh, we have met every prime minister. On our birthdays, we were gifted Rs 500, an amount that was raised later to Rs 1,000 and then to Rs 2,000 till it was finally stopped when we turned 18,’’ said Shahid.

Of the 18, only one, Ganga, was given financial help by the government for her education. But she studied only till Std V. ‘‘I wanted to study further, but I was not allowed to do so. They told me, ‘in any case it’s your fate to tend to a chulha, why do you need to study further?’’’

Shahid met the Chief Minister on March 3 this year when the latter reiterated his promise. He made several attempts between March and June to meet the CM again but in vain. He then decided to sit on the hunger strike. The Chief Minister finally found time to meet him today.

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