Bhopal gas tragedy: 10 women survivors end fast after getting assurances from govt
Bhopal(PTI): Ten women survivors of the 1984 Bhopal Gas Tragedy demanding additional compensation for the disaster victims have called off their hunger strike after getting positive response from both the Madhya Pradesh and Union governments, their leaders said.
They had launched the hunger strike at Neelam Park in the state capital on Friday.
The ten women agitators broke their 29-hour-long fast on Saturday with fruit juice offered by officials of the state government and district administration.
The Bhopal Gas Tragedy took place on the intervening night of December 2-3, 1984 when poisonous methyl isocyanate gas leaked from the Union Carbide pesticide factory in Bhopal, leaving several thousand people dead and lakhs injured.
Five organisations which are fighting for the cause of the Gas Tragedy victims in a statement on Saturday said the Madhya Pradesh Minister of Bhopal Gas Tragedy Relief & Rehabilitation expressed agreement with the facts and figures presented by them and promised to finalise details in a meeting on January 4.
Earlier, the Union government had assured that all the documents put forth by them would be included in the papers to be presented before the Supreme Court bench hearing a curative petition for additional compensation, they said.
"Despite all odds and many disappointments of the last 38 years, we hope the New Year has begun with a hope for the survivors of the world's worst industrial disaster," the statement said.
The agitators were from the Bhopal Gas Peedit Mahila Stationery Karmchari Sangh, Bhopal Gas Peedit Nirashrit Pensionbhogee Sangharsh Morcha, Bhopal Group for Information & Action, Bhopal Gas Peedit Mahila Purush Sangharsh Morcha and Children Against Dow Carbide.
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Tax money pays for free ration scheme but BJP trying to take credit, says Mayawati
Lucknow (PTI): Bahujan Samaj Party (BSP) supremo Mayawati hit out at "BJP and company" on Thursday, saying they want to take credit for providing free rations to the country's poor.
"Far from freeing the people of the country from rising inflation, poverty, unemployment and backwardness, people of BJP and company are bent on extracting electoral gains for giving the poor a little bit of ration. This is not right as this is not kindness," she wrote in Hindi on the social media platform 'X'.
"The free ration to the poor is not a favour by the BJP or the government, it comes from the tax money paid by the people. Therefore, it is inappropriate to make fun of the poor by asking them for votes in return...," the former Uttar Pradesh chief minister added in another post.
BJP leaders, including Prime Minister Narendra Modi, list the government's free ration scheme in every political rally. The party has even mentioned in its manifesto that it will continue the scheme till 2029 after coming to power.
The Congress claims that it brought the law to ensure food security to the poor. Party president Mallikarjun Kharge said at a joint press conference with SP chief Akhilesh Yadav on Wednesday that on coming to power, they will not just improve the quality of the ration but also double its quantity.
