New Delhi: The Planning Commission Friday
supported the PMO proposal for a special Rs 982-crore package
for the Bhopal victims.
"I have approved the proposal. This goes through certain
processes. At the end we are supportive (of it). These are all
preliminary steps. It is actually the GoM that will take the
decision," Planning Commission Deputy Chairman Montek Singh
Ahluwalia told newsmen when asked for his views on the special
package for the Bhopal gas tragedy victims.
The special package would be approved by the Group of
Ministers (GoM) on Bhopal which met for the first time today.
The GoM is to suggest ways to tackle the plethora of legal and
financial tangles that have angered the country since a
Bhopal court gave its verdict last week.
The GoM was announced in the wake of the controversy
over the light punishment given to the seven accused,including
Keshub Mahindra who was the then chairman of the Union Carbide
when the tragedy took place, in the Bhopal gas disaster by a
local court and several questions being raised over the exit
of the then Union Carbide chief Warren Anderson.
The Prime Minister formed the GoM on Bhopal, with Union
ministers M Veerappa Moily (law), Ghulam Nabi Azad
(health), Kamal Nath (surface transport), MK Alagiri
(chemicals), Kumari Selja (tourism), S Jaipal Reddy (urban
development), Prithviraj Chavan (science & technology) and
Jairam Ramesh (environment) as members and home minister P
Chidambaram as the chairman.
After forming the GoM, the PMO has drafted a Rs
982-crore Bhopal rehabilitation plan and sent to the Plan
panel for its view.
PTI
First Published: Saturday, June 19, 2010, 00:16