You and I would pay for Bhopal mess, not Union Carbide

The Group of Ministers (GoM) constituted to re-examine the 1984 Bhopal gas tragedy has recommended that the Central Government dole out an additional compensation worth Rs 1,500 crore to the victims. Where will this Rs 1500 crore come from? Through additional taxes. In short, you and I would have to pay up for the crime that we have not committed. And what about Union Carbide Corporation – the company that was grossly negligent in running the plant at Bhopal despite repeated warnings? Not a penny.
And the GoM has another impossible wish - to bring the former chief of UCC - the 91 year old Warren Anderson - back to India after allowing him to flee more than 25 years ago. For what? To crucify him? To make him pay up? To settle old scores?
Instead of the tax payer being made to pay up, why not ask those who allowed Anderson to flee to cough up Rs 1500 crore? We have many on the list of suspects - Rajiv Gandhi, Narasimha Rao, the then Madhya Pradesh chief minister Arjun Singh, the CBI. Two of them are no more, so the Congress, not the Centre, should pay up. This because the decision to allow Anderson to go was taken at a personal level; it was NOT a government of India decision.
If the GoM says that a prime minister did not know of how a man whose company just killed over 15000 people in Bhopal flew out of India saying a sarcastic goodbye, there must be something seriously wrong with the prime minister and his office.
Who called Arjun Singh from Delhi and gave instructions to go soft on Anderson? Moti Singh, the then DM, says that there was a call from Delhi to free Anderson. Who was the mysterious caller? Rajiv Gandhi had become prime minister only weeks earlier following Indira Gandhi's assassination.
Once the message reached Arjun Singh, he rushed in and made sure that the authorities treated Anderson well and was released without delay. A magistrate was taken to the Union Carbide guest house, he was granted bail just four hours after his arrest and then he was taken in a police car to the airport where a state plane was waiting to take Anderson to Delhi.
Considering the haste and urgency with which Arjun Singh acted, it is obvious that the call from Delhi was from the highest authority - the Prime Minister's office. So, was it Rajiv Gandhi?
Brahma Swaroop, the then Chief Secretary allegedly called up the Collector to inform him that a plane was waiting at the airport for Anderson to be taken to Delhi.
And what is the price of an Indian life? Rs 10 lakh to the next of kin of those dead; Rs 5 lakh for those who suffer from permanent disability; Rs 3 lakh for those with partial liability. Those who lost their eyesight or are suffering from painful cancer or have had children with disability would get a paltry Rs 5 lakh which will hardly be enough to pay the hospital bills.
The Union Cabinet will now meet on Friday to decide on these recommendations. But do not expect much. There will be more talk, more recommendations that cannot be implemented and a lot of political gas.
But one thing for sure: you and I will have to dole out more taxes. Nobody would mind that to help fellow Indians, but not at the cost of allowing the perpetrators of the crime and those who abetted the crime to go scot free.