Bhopal gas verdict, compensation issues made headlines in MP

BHOPAL: The verdict in the Bhopal gas tragedy case nearly 26 years after the world's worst industrial disaster, the 'mild' punishment for those convicted and the compensation issue sparked controversy keeping Madhya Pradesh in the news during the year.

Apart from the Union Carbide issue, political controversies, policy decisions and wildlife matters also grabbed headlines.

A chief judicial magistrate court convicted former Union Carbide India chairman Keshub Mahindra and six others and sentenced them to two years imprisonment in a judgement that came under attack from civil rights activists and parties alike. The punishment was given under less stringent provisions of the IPC for causing death by negligence.

Also Warren Anderson, then chairman of Union Carbide Corporation of USA, who lives in the US was allowed to go scot free as he was an absconder and did not subject himself to trial. In fact, there was no word about him in the judgement that was delivered 23 years after the trial commenced.

The compensation issue is yet to be settled. According to convenor of the Bhopal Gas Peedit Mahila Udyog Sangathan, Abdul Jabbar, the Central package has not helped a large majority of the victims as only eight per cent of them are likely to be benefited. The government announced a Rs 1265.56-crore compensation.

On the political front, Chief Minister Shivraj Singh Chouhan achieved the distinction of becoming the first non- Congress chief minister to complete five years in office. BJP celebrated the occasion with a massive rally and observed November 29 as 'Gaurav Divas".

The BJP also got a new state president in Prabhat Jha. In a major boost to efforts to revive tiger population, a translocated tigress gave birth to three cubs in April in the Panna reserve where big cats had disappeared.

The tigress was translocated from Bandhavgarh in the state to Panna in March last year after the reserve lost its tiger population.

Congress general secretary and former chief minister Digvijay Singh was also in the news, though mostly for his controversial statements.

There was also speculation about the return of former chief minister Uma Bharti to the BJP fold but not hearing anything from the high command, the firebrand leader announced she was staying away from politics for the time being.

The state government took tough action against some IAS officers after Income Tax raids at their residences unearthed cash and property disproportionate to their known sources of income.
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