NEW DELHI, 20 July 2004 — India’s Supreme Court yesterday ordered the central bank to hand 15.03 billion rupees ($326.7 million) to the victims of the world’s worst industrial disaster, a 1984 gas leak in the city of Bhopal that led to more than 14,000 deaths.
The order was made by a two-judge bench of the court hearing a petition from survivors and victims of the disaster and their families.
At least 1,750 people died instantly on the night of Dec. 3, 1984 when tons of toxic gas leaked from a pesticide plant owned by US firm Union Carbide in Bhopal. Another 2,500 died within a week.
Victims’ groups say at least 10,000 more have since died from the gas leak.
After a protracted legal battle, Union Carbide, now a subsidiary of Dow Chemical, paid $470 million to the Indian government in a settlement reached in 1989.
The Supreme Court then directed the government to pay out 8.6 million rupees to the Bhopal victims and keep the rest of the money in a dollar account in the Reserve Bank of India. With interest accruals, this has grown to 15.03 billion rupees — the sum the bank has been told to hand over.
The court did not say when the money must be disbursed but ordered the commissioner in charge of relief for victims of the disaster to file a report on the matter within three months.
More than half a million people were affected by the gas leak and nearly all those who survived have breathing problems, making them incapable of heavy physical work.
Another 120,000 to 150,000 suffer from chronic diseases such as tuberculosis and cancer. But environmental group Greenpeace says that people who live around the factory where the deadly gas leak occurred are still using ground water contaminated with toxic pollutants.
