Ministers’ panel on Bhopal to meet Friday
By IANSTuesday, June 15, 2010
NEW DELHI - The reconstituted ministerial panel on Bhopal gas tragedy will meet Friday, said Home Minister P. Chidambaram Thursday, a day after Prime Minister Manmohan Singh asked the panel to submit its report to the cabinet within 10 days.
“The GoM (Group of Ministers) will meet on the afternoon of June 18,” Chidambaram told reporters on the outcome of an earlier Cabinet Committee on Economic Affairs meeting.
Asked if the GoM, of which he was named chairman, will also discuss the issue of extradition of former Union Carbide chairman Warren Anderson, Chidambaram said he had no idea of various issues that might come up for deliberation Friday.
“I have no idea. Let us see what papers are circulated by the ministry of chemicals and petro-chemicals. They have promised to circulate papers by tomorrow. Let us see what issues are raised by them.”
Manmohan Singh Monday asked the nine-member ministerial panel to meet immediately and report to the cabinet within 10 days.
The GoM was reconstituted last week to go into a range of issues including the relief and rehabilitation of victims and their families.
The court of Bhopal’s chief judicial magistrate June 7 convicted all seven former Union Carbide officials on grounds of negligence under Section 304 (a) for the tragedy.
The court granted bail and released them on a bail bond and a surety of Rs. 25,000 each. One of the accused died during the trial, which lasted nearly 26 years.
