Bhopal, July 14: In the positive development, the Madhya Pradesh government on Tuesday restarted the pension scheme for widows of the Bhopal Gas Tragedy and announced an additional allowance of Rs 1,000 per month for the bereaved wives.

 

The BJP government had started the pension plan in 2013 however, the Former Chief Minister of the state Kamal Nath had shelved the pension plan for the bereaved wives in December 2019. 

 

 

Home Minister Narottam Mishra gave the information about it saying that “This is in addition to the social security pension for the surviving widows of the Bhopal gas leak victims."

 

Furthermore, he added that the decision was objected to by the state’s finance department, but the step was taken anyway by his government to ensure the security of the widowed wives of the plant’s employees.

 

 

 

Rachna Dhingra of NGO Bhopal Group for Information and Action welcomed the decision and said that “Several announcements have been made in the last one year, but these windows are yet to receive a single rupee into their account.”

She claimed the widows of the gas leak victims have not received their pension since December 2019 and said the arrears need to be paid immediately.

 

The gas tragedy often referred to as one of the world's worst industrial disasters, that claimed the lives of over 15,000 people after the 42 tons of the deadly C2H3NO gas mostly known as Methyl Iso-Cyanate (MIC) leaked from the Union Carbide India Limited pesticide plant on the intervening night of December 2 and 3, 1984.