Govt may set up panel to probe Bhopal tragedy

New Delhi: The Government is likely to set up a commission to look into Bhopal gas leak tragedy even as the first meeting of the Group of Ministers on the disaster is scheduled for June 18.

Prime Minister Manmohan Singh has directed that the GoM should submit its report within 10 days to the Union Cabinet.

The GoM is also authorised to investigate into the circumstances leading to the departure of former Union Carbide chief Warren Anderson following his visit to Bhopal in 1984 after the gas leak and the possibility of extradition from the USA now.

However Government sources, say 10 days may be insufficient for the GoM to prepare a report on the tragedy and the Government may try to buy time by setting up a commission of inquiry.

The Congress had proposed a similar commission during Bharatiya Janata Party-led National Democratic Alliance (NDA) rule, which was not accepted.

The Congress on Wednesday had once again insisted on a clean chit to the Rajiv Gandhi government in 1984 on the Bhopal gas tragedy.

The party claimed on Wednesday that Anderson was able to leave the country after the tragedy due to a "systemic failure" and maintained that instead of finger-pointing the effort should be to address it.

"At the end of it there was a systemic failure and there is a need to address it...If we go into the game of finger-pointing, there can be no end. I can ask the BJP about Rs 1 lakh it received as donation from Dow as was reflected in the affidavit it filed before the Election Commission," party spokesman Manish Tewari said.

Anderson was arrested after the Bhopal gas leak tragedy but was released by the Madhya Pradesh government on December 7, 1984 and went home to America.

A Bhopal court had on January 1, 1992 issued a notice for Anderson's appearance before it. After Anderson failed to turn up, non-bailable arrest warrants were issued against him.

In 2003, India sent an extradition request for Anderson to the US Justice Department, which rejected it in 2004. The last request for extradition by the External Affairs Ministry was made in September 2008.

Gordon Streeb, who was deputy chief of mission of the US embassy in New Delhi in 1984, has said the Indian government had assured "safe passage" to Anderson.