Bhopal gas tragedy was handled poorly, accepts Sonia

NEW DELHI - Pointing out inadequacies in the manner in which successive governments have dealt with the Bhopal gas tragedy, Congress president Sonia Gandhi said Thursday steps should be taken to prevent such a man-made catastrophe in future.

“On the Bhopal gas tragedy, I am the first to acknowledge that there have been inadequacies in how successive governments have dealt with this calamity,” Gandhi said in her address at the Congress Parliamentary Party meeting.

“But we cannot remain prisoners of the past. We must look ahead and answer the question — what can we do now, rather than, what could we have done in the past,” she said.

She said a ministers’ group has prepared an agenda for action on the Bhopal gas tragedy under which compensation for victims was increased, medical facilities were being strengthened, review of judicial decisions was being sought and waste disposal, decontamination and remediation activities were being finalised.

“Not a single victim should be denied justice. Equally important is the necessity to put systems in place that will ensure that no Bhopal-type man-made catastrophe repeats itself,” Gandhi said.

At least 3,500 people were killed instantly and thousands more later after a deadly gas leaked from the Union Carbide pesticide plant in Bhopal on the night of Dec 2-3, 1984.